r, and the other
Members of Parliament for the city were felicitating with a goodly array
of Bristol Fathers over the great event likely to be fraught with untold
benefit to the historic port from which Sebastian Cabot set forth years
and years ago to seek and find the continent of America, the feast of
"St. Martin's" was being held at the Criterion, in London, and the Post
Office K.C.B.'s, Sir George Murray, Sir Spencer Walpole, and Sir
William Preece, under the courtly presidency of Sir Robert Hunter, were
eloquently descanting to a large assemblage of Post Office _literati_ on
the usefulness of the Post Office Service magazine--St. Martin's le
Grand.

[Illustration: EMBARKING MAILS AT AVONMOUTH ON THE JAMAICAN STEAMER,
"PORT ROYAL."]

The Chamber of Commerce at this time urged on the Canadian Government
the desirability of making Bristol the terminal port for the new
Canadian fast mail service, on the grounds that mails and passengers
from Canada can be carried into London and the Midlands in the shortest
period of time _via_ the old port of Bristol. From the Holms, 20 miles
below Bristol, a straight line in deep water, without any intervening
land, may be drawn to Halifax. Bristol can be reached from London in 2
hours. The time which could be saved in the passage from Queenstown to
London _via_ Bristol is 5-1/2 hours as compared with the route _via_
Liverpool, and 5 hours as compared with the route _via_ Southampton. By
the Severn Tunnel line there is also direct communication with the
Lancashire and Yorkshire manufacturing districts, as well as the Midland
and Northern parts of the United Kingdom generally. Thus in the two
important elements of speed and safety Bristol has paramount advantages
as a terminal port for the transatlantic mail service. There is evidence
generally that Bristol trade and commerce have revived, and are now
indicating a vigorous growth. The Bristol post office statistics show a
phenomenal progress during the last decade. In the year 1837, before the
introduction of the penny postage system, and when people had to pay for
their missives on delivery, Bristol could only boast of 1,040,000
letters delivered in a year; in 1841, the year after the uniform penny
postage was introduced, the number rose to 2,392,000. In another ten
years, 1851, 5,668,000 was reached; in 1861, 11,062,252 was the number;
1871, 12,158,000; in 1881, 19,484,000; 1891, 29,000,000; and in 1901,
55,473,000, or an increase