"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 shifts, 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 space 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 space 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 noble, but commodious (applause).