private telephone wires in actual
connection with the trunk line system, independent altogether of the
National Co.'s exchange.

The intermingling of the National Telephone business with that of the
Post Office telegraphs has had a further development in a system under
which subscribers to the National Company telephone communications to
the Post Office to be sent on thence as telegrams over Post Office
telegraph wires. This privilege is taken advantage of at Bristol to the
extent of seven or eight hundred messages weekly. The accession of the
trunk telephone business to the already over-crowded office has had the
effect of necessitating the detachment of some part of the staff from
the Post Office headquarter premises in Small Street, and the friendly
relations between the Telephone Company and the Post Office have been
further strengthened by the Bristol Post Office having taken certain
rooms in the headquarters of the National Telephone Co., and located its
Returned Letter Office therein.

Another new feature in Post Office development is the use of Stamping
Machines for the rapid obliteration of the postage stamps and for the
impression of the day's date on letters. Quite recently a machine of the
kind has been introduced into the Bristol Post Office. The machine,
which is of modern invention, goes by the name of the "Columbia"
Cancelling Machine, and is manufactured by the Columbia Postal Supply
Company, of Silver Creek, New York, U.S.A. It is said to be in use in
many Post Offices in the large towns of America and other countries. The
public will no doubt have noticed the new cancelling marks on the
postage stamps, as the die and long horizontal lines are very striking.
The cancelling and date marking operation is performed at the rate of
400 or 500 letters per minute. The motor power of the machine is
electricity.

[Illustration: COLUMBIA STAMPING MACHINE.]

CHAPTER XVI.

THE POST OFFICE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY: ITS ANNUAL MEETING AT BRISTOL.--POST
OFFICE SPORTS: TERRIBLE MOTOR CYCLE ACCIDENT.--BRISTOL POST OFFICE IN
DARKNESS.

The United Kingdom Postal and Telegraph Service Benevolent Society held
its Biennial meeting at Bristol, in June, 1903, and a Banquet was given
by the Bristol Branch to the members of the Conference.

Such a visit to Bristol occurs only once in about 20 years, so it was
regarded as an event of no small importance in the local Post Office
community; and it is, perhaps, worthy o