[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 approaching that of the preceding forty years. The numbers stand in 1905 at 73,000,000.
On Sunday, the 10th January, 1904, the liner "Philadelphia" (which, by-the-bye, as the "City of Paris" went ashore on the Manacles and was salved and re-named) was the first of the fleet of the American Line to call at Plymouth and land the American mails there, instead of at Southampton, as formerly. In connection with the inauguration of this service to the Western port of Plymouth, Bristol--undoubtedly a natural geographical centre for the distribution of mails from the United States and Canada--played an important part in distributing and thus greatly accelerating the delivery of the American correspondence generally. Bristol itself distinctly benefits by the American mail steamers calling at Plymouth, for it enables her traders to get their business correspondence many hours earlier than by any other route.