authorities, the general manager, Mr. F. B. Girdlestone, had provided an engine to take the brake-vans containing the parcel mails direct from the Docks junction to the pier head. The system was fully tried, for the mails had to be taken from the train to the steam-tug _Sea Prince_ to be conveyed to the steamer, which was moored in Kingroad, having arrived too late to enter the dock. The mails weighed close upon three tons, and were contained in fifty-five large hampers. In the following week the s.s. _Arawa_ (a sixteen-knot boat, 440 feet long) carried the mails, which were taken by train alongside the ship in dock; and which consequently, although five tons in weight, were put on board under much more favourable circumstances than in the preceding week, when the steamer had to lie out in the Kingroad. It is noteworthy that the _Arawa_ took out 400 emigrants. [Illustration: R.M.S. "MONTEREY." FIRST LINER IN THE NEW CANADIAN MAIL SERVICE. _From a photograph by G. M. Roche, Esq., Dublin._] Subsequent steamers used for carrying on the mail service were the _Montfort_, _Monteagle_, and _Montrose_. The arrangements for the new service worked very smoothly from the outset, thanks in no small measure to Mr. Flinn, the local general manager for Messrs. Elder, Dempster & Co., who facilitated in every way the Post Office and Customs operations. The trial so far has proved that the use of Avonmouth as a port for the Canadian mail traffic is attended with advantages on this side of the ocean, but greater facilities for embarking and disembarking the mails at Avonmouth are absolutely necessary. CHAPTER X. POSTAL SERVICE STAFF; ITS COMPOSITION, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES.--VOLUME OF WORK. In 1855 the Bristol Post Office staff consisted of a postmaster and fifteen clerks, with sixty-four letter carriers. Over 1,500 people of all grades, including sub-postmasters and their assistants, are now employed; and the annual bill for salaries, wages, and allowances of men, women, and boys amounts to little short of £100,000. It will thus be seen that the Post Office ranks as one of the largest employers of labour in the western city. The head office is centrally situated both for the receipt and despatch of the letter correspondence. It is not very far from a point known as "Tramway Centre," upon which the tram services of the city converge. It plays an important part with regard to the Bristol postal system, as out of a total of 833,000 letters posted weekly in the city delivery area--exclusive of 55,300 Clifton posted letters--221,000 letters are posted at the head office itself, and the total posted within a radius of a mile is 652,290, or more than three-fourths of the whole. In addition to the 888,000 letters posted weekly in Bristol city and Clifton, there are 108,000 letters posted in the suburban and rural districts. The posting every Sunday consists of 35,000 letters.