silence box in the Public Hall of the Bristol Post Office, from which conversations can be held with all parts of the Kingdom, with Belgium and France. Of course, the greater number of trunk line telephone conversations are held through the medium of the National Telephone Company's local exchange, but many important Bristol firms have contracted with the Post Office for 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.