A letter posted at the Penny Post Office of Almondsbury for delivery in the Penny Post District of Fylton would be charged a penny upon being handed in at the Almondsbury Office and another penny would be charged to the addressee on delivery. Thornbury being a 5th Clause Post would have letters posted in its special "Open" box, delivered in the Thornbury Postal area for the one penny, that charged on delivery. A letter posted in the "Open" box at Thornbury (5th Clause Post) for Bristol would likewise travel from Poster to addressee for the 1d. delivery charge in Bristol, as bags would be exchanged between the two places. A single letter, _i.e._, a letter without an enclosure, coming from Reading for Thornbury, would be charged a general post rate of 8d. to Bristol, plus 1d. for delivery, which would be the same in the cases of letters from Reading for Fylton or Almondsbury; but if a letter were posted at Thornbury for Reading, there would be no charge from Thornbury to Bristol, so that the addressee would only be called upon to pay the general post rate of 8d., whereas, the postage on a letter from Fylton or Almondsbury would be 8d., plus a penny charged for collection. [Illustration: EARLY BRISTOL POST MARKS.] The mail services in the rural districts are not free from danger. The pitcher may have been carried to the fountain year after year without mishap, but it not infrequently becomes broken at last. In like manner the contractor for the Portishead, Clevedon, and Yatton mail cart service, after having driven over this route with immunity from accident for forty years, yet came to grief in the last week of his connection with His Majesty's mails, January, 1902. The contractor's time table was arranged thus:--Portishead, leave 9.15 p.m.; Clevedon, arrive 10.5 p.m., leave 10.50 p.m.; Yatton, arrive 11.28 p.m.; attend to apparatus and up mail 12.17 a.m., down mail 12.42 a.m.; Yatton, leave 1.5 a.m.; Clevedon, arrive 1.48 a.m., depart 4.15 a.m.; Portishead, arrive 5.5 a.m.