Part 5 (1/2)

There seems to have been some informal understanding that when the Exchange was finished a suitable site would be provided by the Corporation for postal business, and in August, 1746, a Committee reported to the Council that they had contracted for the erection of ”a house intended to be made use of as a Post Office, certain workmen having agreed to build and find all the materials at the rate of 60 per square (_sic_); while Mr. Thomas Pine (nephew to Henry, the former postmaster) had offered to become the tenant at 40 a year, which he alleged is the highest rent he is able at present to pay.” The Council approved of the proposal, recommending the Committee to get as much rent as was practicable. The house, which was of scanty dimensions, cost 700 exclusive of a ground rent of 15 a year given for the site. Only the ground floor was set apart for postal business, Mr. Pine residing on the premises. The first year's rent (43) was paid in 1750. Between 1750 and 1815 the building must have been considerably enlarged, for in the latter year the Post Office is spoken of as a handsome and convenient building of freestone, near to the western end of the Exchange, to which it has a wing projecting forward into the street; and there is another building, exactly similar to it, at the eastern end, which is occupied for a stamp office. In 1827 there was a contemplated removal of the Post Office, and it was deemed proper by the Chamber of Commerce to come on the scene by presenting a memorial to the Postmaster-General; it is stated that the timely remonstrance no doubt contributed to relieve the public of the inconvenience of such removal. Colonel Maberly, the Secretary to the Post Office, advised Lord Lichfield in 1838 that as the ground-floor portion of the Post Office premises occupied by the solicitors was necessary for the extension and improved accommodation of the office, no time should be lost in giving the several sub-tenants notice to quit, and Mr. Hall or the postmaster should be instructed to communicate with the Corporation as to the means of effecting such alterations as might be requisite. His lords.h.i.+p gave authority to that effect. In 1839 the Corporation granted the Government a new lease of the premises and of additional ground behind for the purpose of having the Post Office enlarged. The annual rent previous to this new arrangement had risen to 100.

The building alluded to is that now rented by Messrs. Corner and Co. as a tea warehouse. Few indeed, even of the oldest citizens will remember the Bristol Post Office as located there, and the old square open public lobby where the letters were given out through barred windows. Only the ground floor was utilised, and the area, of the site was but 21 ft. by 20 ft. A door opened from the pa.s.sage by the Exchange into a very small public lobby. In this lobby was the letter-box, and here all business with the public--viz., giving out private letters, taking in letters prepaid in money, and the issuing and paying of money orders--was transacted by clerks standing in the office behind a gla.s.s part.i.tion.

The prepayment of letters by means of postage stamps was not introduced till some months after penny postage was established. There was not at the time a continuous attendance of clerks at the gla.s.s part.i.tion. At two of the slides in the part.i.tion there were small bra.s.s door-knockers, and on the public knocking a clerk appeared; from the inside office and attended to the wants of the applicants. When letters for the private box renters were being sorted a blind was drawn down. When the mail was ready the blind was drawn up, and three clerks attended to disperse the crowd which had gathered during the half-hour or so while the office was closed. The small s.p.a.ce behind the public lobby sufficed for the stamping, sorting, and other necessary duties. One man, history saith, amongst the crowd generally got to the front without difficulty; he was a flour-dusted messenger from the Welsh Back!

In 1847 the Money Order Department had grown amazingly, and a separate room had to be provided for its accommodation. This caused the removal of certain solicitors from the first floor to make room for the postmaster's office, the one formerly held by him on the ground floor being converted into a money order office. In 1855 the shop on the north side of the entrance to Albion Chambers from Small Street was taken by the Post Office and converted into a money order office, it being found that the department devoted to this purpose at the general office in Exchange Buildings was not sufficiently commodious or convenient.

It is on record that in 1863 the Post Office authorities offered 10,000 towards erecting a new Post Office if the citizens would consent to contribute 2,000 more. A meeting of some gentlemen took place in the committee-room of the Council House to take the proposition into consideration, but owing to the small number of persons that attended further deliberation was postponed to a day not named. Some of the leading citizens were of opinion that it would be wise to defer any decision on the subject until the intention of the Government as to granting a criminal a.s.size for Bristol was known; for should the answer from head-quarters be in the affirmative, it would be necessary to build a new court somewhere, in which case the Guildhall would perhaps suit as a Post Office. Nothing appears to have come of the negotiations, and the business of the Post Office was removed on the 25th of March, 1868, to the new office erected in Small Street on the site where it is now carried on. This original portion of the structure covers 11,000 square feet. The purchase of the site was completed on the 21st December, 1865.

It is stated in a legal doc.u.ment that the bricks, stones, and material on part of the site belonged to the Bristol Chambers Co. Limited. Where the sorting office stands there formerly flourished a fine mulberry tree. There appears to have been no ceremonial in the way of laying a foundation stone, and the antiquarian of the distant future may be disappointed in not discovering the usual coins deposited on such occasions.

In fifteen years the need arose for more s.p.a.ce, and that then the Bristol public manifested a keen interest in the position of the Bristol Post Office was indicated by an animated debate which took place in our Council Chamber; and as this book affects to be in part a history as well as a narrative, it is thought well to give the report of the proceedings a full record herein, under permission from the proprietors of the _Bristol Times and Mirror_:--

_Friday, January 2nd, 1885._ ”THE SITE FOR THE POST OFFICE.

”The TOWN CLERK said that as the next part of the report referred to the site for the Post Office, he would read a letter he had received from Mr. Lewis Fry, M. P., which was as under:--

”'Goldney House, Clifton Hill, _30th December, 1884_.

”'My dear Sir,--As I observe that the question of the site of the new Post Office will come before the Council on Thursday, I think it best, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, to ask you to state to the Council that the matter is not to be considered as a proposal made by the Postmaster-General or the first Commissioner of Works. The exact position of the matter is this, that Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, soon after his visit to Bristol, requested me to intimate to the Corporation that in case they desire the change of situation to Baldwin Street, he is ready to entertain any proposal which they may make to him with that object, provided it be upon the basis of an exchange of properties as mentioned in the report of the Finance Committee.

”'I am, yours truly, LEWIS FRY.

The Town Clerk of Bristol.'

”Mr. ROBINSON said he would like to say a word or two on the subject of a new Post Office, as the wording in Mr. Fry's letter referred to the subject of the proposed change in the position of the Post Office. They did not want change for change's sake (applause), and if they could do without it they would be glad to do so, but sometimes change became a necessity (applause). He would wish to say a word or two with reference to the provisions for the postal arrangements in Bristol, as to the inconvenience that the officials and the public were subject to, and a word as to the great increase in postal matters in the city and in the country generally. He wished to convey to them the magnitude of the question and the very growing character of the communications by letters, parcels, and newspapers, which were being circulated through the medium of the Government and through the Post Office. He the previous day called upon Mr. Sampson, the head official of the Bristol Post Office, and he might say that his ability was only exceeded by his courtesy (applause). He gave him all the information he had asked for, and he showed him over a considerable part of the building. In the course of the interview he gave him no opinion as to the site, and he did not think it wise to ask him. All he asked him, was as to facts--as to the present accommodation. He described the condition of the office as being one of congestion, and that they were put to all kinds of s.h.i.+fts, and that the sorting and minor offices were inadequate for their respective purposes (hear, hear). He saw a room where eighty postmen were engaged in partial sorting. It was upstairs and was approached by winding stairs with only a 21-inch tread, and the room was utterly inadequate for the purpose. Letters had to be sent to Clifton to be sorted because of the want of s.p.a.ce in the Post Office. Mr. Sampson said more particularly that a large hall was necessary on the ground floor for an entrance, from which the various subsidiary offices should be entered. Then he said that a good frontage was desirable. Some people had suggested tunnelling and going to the other side of the street, and others had suggested a viaduct. Offers of property had come from different people, so that the want of further accommodation seemed to be recognised not only by the Post Office itself, but outside. The present office was erected in 1868, and had the officials been sanguine, or known that the business would have increased as it had, they probably would not have selected the present site. The work of the office had perfectly outgrown the capacity of the place. Since 1868 new departments had been opened, and new duties had been created, and they wanted more room. The telegraph work was added in February, 1870, and the sale of revenue stamps and payment of stamps as money had also been added. The parcel post came into operation in 1883. They did not desire an extravagant outlay. The increase of the population was 1 per cent., and the letters increased 3 per cent. They were not asked to buy a whole street. He felt it would be admitted that the telegraphic despatches formed the essential, if not the primary, part of the arrangements of the Post Office. He was informed that the site in Baldwin Street was more convenient and closer to the warehouses and offices which greatly used the present telegraphic advantages than the present site in Small Street (a voice: 'No'). Well, he gave his word for what he had heard. He maintained that the Council had a supreme moment at the present time.

They had a gentleman at the head of the Post Office who had viewed the new site, and now they found that the Post Office authorities were in the humour to make the outlay they had better embrace the opportunity.

His resolution was: 'That, considering the want of adequate s.p.a.ce in Small Street for postal and telegraphic arrangements, it is desirable that a new Post Office be erected in Baldwin Street, on the site recently viewed by the Postmaster-General, if equitable arrangements can be made with the Government for the transfer of the property.' If the Government were not prepared to lay out money for the site, they could let them have the property on a ground-rent, without an outlay being made. It would not cost less than 20,000 to 25,000 to enlarge and improve the present Post Office, and he maintained that that sum would go a great way towards erecting a new Post Office in Baldwin Street. They would not always be able to get sites; and they could not always buy sites as they could oranges and nuts (laughter). In America people ran after him and asked him to buy land. Not so here. He repeated that they had Mr. Shaw-Lefevre looking favourably upon the new site, and he thought it desirable that they should take a bold step--such a step as indicated in the resolution--and put up a building which not alone should be n.o.ble, but commodious (applause).

”Mr. Alderman EDWARDS seconded the resolution. He was glad that the matter had been laid before the Postmaster-General. A great deal had been said about the present site being more useful and convenient than the proposed, but he felt that the difference was very small indeed. The sites were within a minute or two of each other. In Baldwin Street they had a road 60 ft. wide, and if Small Street were altered, however much, they would not widen it half as much as that. As to the positions of the banks, some of the important ones were nearer Baldwin Street than the other street. At any rate, the Old Bank, Stuckey's, and the National Provincial Banks were nearer Baldwin Street than Small Street. The speaker then named several large warehouses which were, he urged, closer to the proposed site than Small Street. At Baldwin Street they had an acre of ground for the present or future. He would not give the land to the Post Office authorities, but he suggested that they should be liberal towards them in their offer. If the Post Office authorities wished to give them the old office in exchange for the site, it might be utilised by the Corporation.

”Mr. C. WILLS supported the resolution. He would advance one or two reasons why they should make the best terms they could with the Postmaster-General. That the present Post Office was inconveniently small was generally admitted, and he maintained that if the proposed additions were made to the existing building, the extra facilities would not meet the ever-increasing demands on the Post Office for more than six or eight years. The various departments of the present building were too small for development and carrying on the important work of a Post Office. Personally, he would as soon for the Post Office to be in one street as the other, but he felt it would redound to the credit of the city to see a fine building erected in Baldwin Street. If they had the Post Office there it would enhance the value of the other sites in the thoroughfare. Very shortly they would have the sixpenny telegrams, and then the increase in telegraphic communication would be very great indeed, and the present building would soon become inadequate to the demand. Then, again, they saw that the present Postmaster-General did not intend to give up the parcels post, and the development of this branch of the Post Office work would be very great indeed. Then, again, there would be increased vehicular traffic to the Post Office; and could this, he asked, be carried out to the comfort of the citizens in Small Street? The turning point arose from Mr. Shaw-Lefevre visiting the Chamber of Commerce recently. That gentleman visited the site in Baldwin Street, and he, no doubt, saw that the site would be better and superior to the one in Small Street.

”Mr. PETHICK said that they had come to a turning point in the history of the city of Bristol. The question was whether they should continue the system of compression that they had suffered from for so many years.

Small Street was a narrow thoroughfare; it was only a back lane to Broad Street. ('Oh! oh!') It was called Small Street and had a carriage way of only 9 ft. ('No, no.') He must repeat that at one point in Small Street the carriage way was only 9 ft. wide.

”Mr. DANIEL protested against Mr. Pethick saying that Small Street was the back lane to Broad Street, and that the carriage road was only 9 ft.

(hear, hear). The narrow part of Small Street would come down when the improvements to the Post Office took place.

”Mr. PETHICK: I state facts--what the street is to-day.

”Mr. DANIEL: But is the narrow part you speak of the entrance to Small Street?

”Mr. PETHICK: It is the approach from Bristol Bridge, _via_ the Exchange, for mail carriages and other traffic, and all must pa.s.s through the narrow part, which is only 9 ft. wide. Even if this were taken away, Mr. Pethick continued, they would still have a narrow s.p.a.ce to pa.s.s through. The whole would not be 14,000 superficial feet; and above all, with so bad an access, they proposed to enlarge the present building.

”Mr. Alderman PROCTOR BAKER: It is not proposed.

”Mr. PETHICK observed that in Baldwin Street they had a good carriage way, and they would have a front and back entrance to a new building. He hoped no little or narrow parochial spirit would be put forward in this matter. The difference of the distance of the two sites was so small as to be insignificant, and he trusted they would endeavour to get a handsome and commodious building erected on the Baldwin Street side of the city.

”Mr. Alderman PROCTOR BAKER said they were indebted to Mr. Robinson for his interesting details, but he did not think they were details for the Council to study, but for the study of the Government. The Post Office was a Government undertaking, and carried on for profit by the Government, and it was on their shoulders, and theirs alone, to provide proper premises. There were two questions involved in the resolution before them, and if it could be so arranged he should like a separate opinion being taken. One question was the actual position of the future Post Office--whether it was to be in Small Street or Baldwin Street. The other question was whether the Council was prepared to sell to the Post Office the land in Baldwin Street and receive in exchange the building in Small Street. As regarded the question of convenience there was very little to be said on either side; but with regard to the other matter he thought they should not agree to exchange the land for the present Post Office building. If they took over the existing building, it could only he pulled or used for public offices. Already they had a population of 200,000 persons, and the area of the city was to be extended; and if they believed in the progress of the city they must expect it by-and-by to be the centre of a quarter of a million of people. It would be impossible, as it would be discreditable, for them to attempt to carry on that great munic.i.p.ality in such buildings as they now had. The chamber in which they were a.s.sembled was in a bad condition; the air at that moment was as foul as it could be; and if they took over the present Post Office and applied it for the purposes of the munic.i.p.ality, they would perpetuate the present discomfort, inconvenience, etc., of having divided offices, and postpone for half a century the erection of a large munic.i.p.al building, in which all their offices would be. As to Baldwin Street and Small Street sites, there was much to be said on both sides; but if it was proposed to take in exchange the Post Office building for their land the Council should vote against it (hear, hear).

He sincerely trusted they would not take over a building which would keep up the inconvenience they now suffered from (hear, hear).