The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government departmentBennett, Edward
History
The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government department
Bennett, Edward
Postal service -- Great Britain -- History
Still, do not let us forget the huge army which serves the nation in
postal matters. The counter-clerk who sells the stamp and the postman
who delivers the letter are the two officials who are known to the
public, and the different officers who conduct the operations which come
between the buying of the stamp and the delivery of the letter are
almost unknown outside the walls of their own offices. And it is a
matter for congratulation that in King Edward's Building the health and
bodily needs of the staff have been considered in a way which twenty or
thirty years ago would have been regarded as quixotic and as
grandmotherly administration.
Ducts have been provided in the main building for mechanically
ventilating the three lower floors, and uptakes are led from these into
fan-houses situated on the roof. The fans which have been installed are
directly coupled to motors of variable speed, and are designed to move
large quantities of air. Fresh air is admitted through windows and
ventilating radiators, and the vitiated air is discharged on the roof.
The ventilation of the Bag Room has been separately treated; here a
considerable quantity of dust is liberated by the handling of mail bags,
and dust, we are beginning to learn, is the great enemy to health.
Arrangements have been made for concentrating this at one point near a
collecting hopper, through which the dust-laden air passes and is
discharged on the roof.
The third floor is entirely devoted to kitchen and refreshment-room
accommodation and retiring-rooms for the various classes of the staff.
Each officer has a long locker for his belongings. As the work goes on
during the whole of the twenty-four hours, the refreshment branch is
practically always open. A very large business is done here. Three
thousand dinners can be prepared every day.
The roof is flat, and on it two miniature rifle ranges, one of 25 yards
and one of 50 yards, have been constructed. Here are to be seen the
large ventilating fans for securing a constant supply of fresh air to
the rooms below.
The new-comer into the service speedily takes all these conveniences and
comforts for granted, and perhaps is aggrieved because arm-chairs and
lounges are not yet provided; but the middle-aged official, who
remembers times when nothing apart from his work was ever considered by
his chiefs, rubs his eyes sometimes and wonders whether it is all a
dream.
King Edward's Building is in keeping with all the traditions of the City
of London. Charlotte Brontë in _Villette_ says: “I have seen the West
End, the parks, the fine squares: but I love the City far better. The
City seems so much more in earnest: its business, its rush, its roar are
such serious things, sights, sounds. The City is getting its living—the
West End but enjoying its pleasure. At the West End you may be amused,
but in the City you are deeply excited.” That is the mood which will
possess the visitor as he leaves the new building.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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