The St Helena Government received new printing equipment on the last calling of the RMS St Helena.

This equipment will replace the rota print machines that are currently being used at the Government Printing Office, the Castle. Whilst these machines have served much of the printing needs of the Island for many years, during the last year the printing office has experienced several mechanical problems with them and print quality has deteriorated.

The new printers will alleviate these problems, which means that print quality should be much improved.

The new equipment comprises of two Risograph digital printers which have been purchased from a company in South Africa. These are heavy-duty machines which are able to print at a speed of up to 120 prints per minute compared to about 30 prints on an ordinary photocopier. The machines will be used to do the bulk of the printing and will be able to print by making copies from a printed sheet of paper or directly from a computer.

St Helena’s Commercial Representative in South Africa, Adam Kossowski, IT Manager Jeremy Roberts and Executive Officer Mark Yon were able to see these types of machines in operation in Cape Town before they were purchased.

Gillian Francis from the Office of the Chief Secretary said: "We are very pleased to have made the purchase because I understand from our IT Manager, Executive Officer and our Commercial Representative in Cape Town that the machines will meet our requirements in a much more efficient manner. The machines are modern and robust enough to meet the high demand for printing. Plans are in hand to temporarily relocate the Printing Office to Ladder Hill to allow the existing premises to be renovated following the discovery of white ants. The new machines will be commissioned following the relocation of the Printing Office within the next few weeks."

Commenting on the new machines, Acting Government Printer Peter Thomas said: "Printing quality should be better and printing jobs should take less time to complete."

With this new equipment, the Printing Office will be quite modern as they are already using a digital colour photocopier and a heavy duty black and white copier.