Part 6 (2/2)
There was this further remonstrance:--
”.... It would have been more satisfactory to your Committee if the Postmaster-General had fulfilled his promise to the deputation who waited upon him on the 30th of January, 1854, to hold a local enquiry at which they should be present, as there were several other matters connected with the internal arrangements of the Bristol Post Office (particularly the money order department, which is still very defective) with respect to which they were desirous of making some suggestions.”
Then followed a copy of the report made to the Postmaster-General by Mr.
Tilley, who conducted the enquiry, also a statement of the proposed Establishment.
At the Chamber's next annual meeting on 30th January, 1856, with James Ha.s.sell, the president, in the chair, the Post Office is again reproved thus:--
”No further reply than the official printed acknowledgment and promise of attention has yet reached your Committee respecting the memorial on the subject of the Welsh mail, the West India mails, etc.; but past experience and general repute do not lead them to antic.i.p.ate prompt redress from the Post Office authorities. It required repeated applications, extending over a period of about eighteen months, to obtain a remedy for the grievances set forth in our former memorial; and even now the Money Order Department is not completed, and probably similar perseverance will again be required, as it is now more than a month ago the memorial relating to the West India mail was presented.”
It was thought worthy of note in the _Bristol Mirror_ of November 5th, 1831, that ”500 letters were brought yesterday from Clifton for the general post.” In demonstration of the strides which the Post Office has made, it may be mentioned that in the ”fifties,” in addition to the Post Office at Clifton, the only offices were the branches at Haberfield Crescent and Phippen Street, with four collections a day, and the receiving houses at Ashley Road, Bedminster, Hotwells, and Redland, with three collections a day. The city only boasted at that time of pillar letter boxes at Arley Chapel, Armoury Square, Bedminster Bridge, Bristol Bridge, Castle Street, Christmas Steps, College Green, Freemantle Square, Kingsdown, Milk Street, Railway Station, St. Philip's Police Station, Kingsland Road, Whiteladies Road, and Woodwell Crescent, with three collections daily. Now there are 167 Post Offices in the district.
On the Gloucesters.h.i.+re side there are 99, at 41 of which telegraph business is carried on; and on the Somersets.h.i.+re side 68, 27 of which are telegraph offices. In addition telegraph business is carried on for the Postmaster-General at five railway stations on the Gloucesters.h.i.+re side and five on the Somersets.h.i.+re side. Licenses to sell postage stamps are held by over a hundred shopkeepers.
There are now 350 pillar and wall letter boxes provided for public convenience.
It may be mentioned in pa.s.sing that during the strike amongst the deal-runners in Bristol, when men were brought from other towns and housed and fed at ”Huntersholm” (a large wooden building erected specially in one of the timber yards), and allowed out under police supervision, a stamp license was applied for and granted, to meet a large demand for postage stamps which these men made in consequence of having to send their wages home weekly to their families.
In detail, but without complication by mention of the names of all the districts, the local improvements for the seven years from March, 1892, to February, 1899, inclusive, were as follows:--New post offices established, 33; telegraph offices opened, 18; money order and savings bank business extended to 17 offices; postal orders sold at 6 additional offices; new pillar and wall boxes erected, 142; new or additional day mails from 34 districts; and out to 44 districts; new extra deliveries established in 65 districts, and two extra deliveries in 7 districts.
Free delivery extended in 35 rural districts, and the ordinary second or third delivery extended in 44 rural districts; morning delivery accelerated in 63, and the day delivery in 8, rural districts. A later posting for North mail in 6, and for the night mail in 58, rural districts. New collections established in 73, and a later collection in 30, rural districts.
Increased facilities in the postal world are almost invariably followed by augmentation of business. It certainly has been so in the Bristol district, for there has been a marvellous development in the last seven years. The letters delivered have increased by 60 per cent., and those posted have grown at the rate of 55 per cent. Parcels have increased by 25 per cent. There has been a similar marked increase in all branches of business. The three preceding periods of seven years were comparatively ”lean” periods, for the increase in the number of letters during the whole twenty-one years was actually less than during the seven last years. The increase is altogether out of proportion to the growth of population, and it is far in excess of the general increase of letter correspondence throughout the country generally, which has been only at the rate of 22 per cent. during the period as against Bristol's 60 per cent. It is hoped that this may be taken as a sure indication of the well-being of the trade of Bristol, and as a sign that there is quickened life in the commerce of the good old city. At all events, it shows that the local Post Office organization is quite abreast of the times, and that the facilities afforded are appreciated and are fully taken advantage of.
CHAPTER IX.
BRISTOL AS A MAIL STEAMER STATION FOR IRELAND, WEST INDIES, AMERICA, AND CANADA.
From the archives of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce it transpires that from the very first const.i.tution of the Chamber in 1823, it had before it a scheme for the conveyance of mails between this port and the South of Ireland by direct steam packet. It was considered that such a service would be highly advantageous to the city, and correspondence on the subject from time to time took place with the Post Office Department.
Allusion is made to it in the Chamber's Annual Report in January, 1824; again in 1828, when the President of the Chamber, Mr. Joseph Cookson, had a conference with the leading officer of the Post Office; and once more in 1829. The case is so fully and ably set forth in the Board's Annual Report of the 26th January, 1829, that its reproduction _in extenso_ cannot fail to be of deep interest to the citizens of the present day as their attention is often drawn to the steams.h.i.+p traffic.
It ran thus:--
”The transmission of the mails direct from Bristol was earnestly pressed upon the attention of the Postmaster-General in the year 1823, on which occasion the Chamber minutely investigated the practicability, safety, and general advantages of the measure, the material points of which were embodied in a memorial, accompanied by a list of queries and replies.
The Civic Corporation, the Society of Merchant Venturers, and the Bristol Dock Company each presented similar memorials.
”In resuming the enquiry, the Board have resorted to the channels best calculated to convey accurate information. The managing proprietor of the steam packet establishments at this port, Captain Dungey, an individual on whose experience and judgment reliance may be placed, and other persons of practical knowledge, have been consulted on the subject. All concur in establis.h.i.+ng the fact that the voyage to and from Dunmore may, with general certainty, be accomplished by efficient steamboats in from 24 to 26 hours during the eight summer months, and in from 26 to 30 hours in the four months of winter; that the instances of exceeding this scale would not be more frequent than at the present station, the navigation of the Bristol Channel being protected by the coast on either side, and consequently less influenced by severe weather than the Irish Sea.
”The earlier arrival of the London mail and its later departure, as altered some time since, accords materially with the proposition for making Bristol a packet station. By the present regulations, the London mail arrives in Bristol at five minutes past 9 in the morning; and leaves at half-past 5 in the evening; it is capable of being still further accelerated by taking the two last stages in the direct line through Marshfield, instead of pa.s.sing through Bath. According to the present arrangements, the Irish mails may with ease and convenience to pa.s.sengers be despatched from the mouth of the Bristol river, five miles from the Post Office, every day at half-past 10, and those from Ireland, if arriving by 4.0, be forwarded to London the same evening. The time saved by this route as compared with that of Milford would be, at least during the summer months, equal to one whole day for the purposes of business, since the arrival at Dunmore would be in the morning instead of evening, and the departure at noon instead of at an early hour of the morning as at present.
”The present slips at Lamplighter's Hall and Broad Pill now serve for landing pa.s.sengers from the packets on special occasions; with very trifling expense they may be made efficient for pa.s.sengers, and not more objectionable than the present accommodation for crossing the estuary of the Severn--carriages, horses, baggage, and heavy goods might at an earlier hour be put on board at the Bristol Docks, which the boat would leave at the height of tide in order to be in waiting for the mails at the place appointed for receiving them. At Lamplighter's Hall an hotel is established, which, with the contiguity to the city, would ensure to the public a supply of all the accommodation a packet station would require. These are the facilities which can at present be afforded. At no very distant date the accommodation will, in all probability, be yet further increased, first, by the erection of a pier with hotel and establishment at Portishead on the Somersets.h.i.+re side of the Avon, which the Corporation of the City have for some time had under consideration with a view to promote the convenience of pa.s.sengers by the steam vessels and thus encourage the intercourse between this city and the South of Ireland. In aid of the present enquiry they have directed a survey and report by Mr. Milne, the engineer, on the practicability and probable cost of the proposed pier. Secondly, and arising also from this scheme, is a plan for erecting a bridge across the Avon, by the application in part of a fund amounting to nearly 8,000, held by the Society of Merchant Venturers in trust under the will of William Vick, deceased, for the especial purpose; with the formation of an improved line of road by Mr. Gordon, Mr. Miles, and other landed proprietors on that side of the river, for the short distance to Portishead. These several improvements the respective parties interested are disposed to effect, and which any impelling motive, such as the establishment of a regular mail packet station, may induce them immediately to undertake. The accomplishment of these works would render Portishead a most eligible station. It is protected from weather, is a safe anchorage, would have ample depth of water at any state of the tide, the landing would be instant on arrival, and it would be supplied with every convenience and accommodation for pa.s.sengers.
”The Board believe an important saving of expense to Government would result from establis.h.i.+ng Bristol as a mail packet station. The great deficiency on the Milford station in the receipts as compared with the expenditure arises from the very limited number of persons who avail themselves of that line of communication. The land journey of twenty hours at a fare of 3 10s., followed by a twelve hours' voyage by open sea at a further expense of 1 10s., with the inconvenience frequently sustained in crossing the estuary of the Severn, deters people from taking the Milford route by choice. The general introduction of steam packets, the degree of perfection in sailing to which they have been brought, the regularity and safety with which the voyages are performed, the accommodation to pa.s.sengers, and the moderate scale of fares, have contributed to effect of late years a material change in the general opinion on steamboat conveyance. The long voyage by sea is now generally preferred to a long journey by land and the shorter one by sea. The number and efficiency of the Bristol boats, and the economy in the fares, induce a large proportion of travellers to take the direct course from Bristol. Indeed, to so great an extent has this preference operated that the contractors for conveying the mail throughout the whole line from Bristol to Milford are understood to have given notice of their intention to determine their engagement, on account of the gradual decrease in the number of pa.s.sengers and the consequent loss they incur. A similar statement appears in the report of the Postmaster-General on the memorial of the innkeepers on the Holyhead route.
”In favour of Bristol it may be fairly stated that, at a comparatively trifling expense, the port may be made commodious for a packet station; that the present strength of the establishment at Milford would serve, with some addition, for that of Bristol; that the difference in price of coal at Portishead would reduce the expense of sailing the packets from that station; that Bristol affords every prospect of increase of receipt, whilst at Milford it must, for the reasons before stated, necessarily decrease; that the demands of a large commercial city, with its populous adjoining and connected districts, will create a traffic for boats making quick and regular voyages, which Milford, from its position, never can acquire--the conveyance of fish and provisions alone could be made to yield a revenue of consequence. Numerous other sources of receipt would arise from the conveniency of its regularity and expedition. Indeed, so much are the Board impressed with the belief that the traffic would be extensive and productive that they venture to antic.i.p.ate it may, at no very distant period, relieve the Government from any further charge than a comparatively nominal sum for the transport of the mails. The Board are induced also to put the proposition in a national point of view. They feel that the more closely Ireland can be brought into direct and active communication with this country, the more rapid will be its course of improvement. The introduction of steam navigation has, at this port, given an energy and extension to the Irish trade that far exceeds any previous expectations; each succeeding month brings a vast increase of import and a corresponding export, to the material benefit of each kingdom, and the more complete the intercourse can be established the more important will the trade become.
”The port of Bristol, from its position, possesses numerous capabilities for a mail packet station. Its contiguity and means of land and water communication with the capital; its being the princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+pping port for the manufacturing districts of the South-west part of the kingdom; its close connection and water communication with Birmingham, Worcester, and other large towns in the centre of the kingdom; the convenience of its floating harbour; the reduced scale of its local tolls--all these circ.u.mstances combine to give Bristol a superiority over other places on the coast, whether the subject he viewed as regards the economy of the Post Office Department or the accommodation of the public.
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