y
would invite him to meet Sir Michael in Bristol, for he might then be
inclined to grant him (the speaker) any request he might make. He wanted
them to recognise that the Postmaster-General's good intentions, and
they were many, were controlled by Parliamentary and statutory
exigencies. He had also been asked to improve their rates on foreign
letters and parcels, as well as to cheapen the delivery of letters and
parcels from abroad; but it was entirely forgotten that he had to reckon
with foreign Powers. A Postal Reformer had declared, in a letter, that
it was possible to create an ideal Post Office. He wished he could
accede to every one of his requests, but he had to consider Parliament;
he was not master himself. He thought that if they were to meet the
requirements of the public as they were anxious to do, they must
proceed in the course in which they were moving at present--with
steadiness and sureness, and not promise things which it was impossible
to fulfil.

The Ex-Postmaster of the House of Commons, Mr. E.W. Pike, is a
Somersetshire man; he was born at Ilchester, and his grandfather was the
last Governor of the Gaol of that town. When Mr. Pike was ten years of
age, his father received an appointment under the act constituting the
new County Court system, and removed to Temple Cloud in the Bristol
district. The family afterwards moved to the adjacent village of
Clutton, and Mr. Pike went there with the other members.

Mr. Pike remembers that the Post Office at Temple Cloud was held by Mrs.
Carter, and after her death John Spear had the office. Mr. Pike's active
service in the Post Office terminated on Wednesday, the 14th September,
1903. His experience in the Post Office was unique, and no wonder that
he felt proud on retiring, that during a service of nearly 46 years he
had given full satisfaction to his superiors in the Post Office, and to
have had the approbation of the Members of the House of Commons
specially expressed to him by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.J. Balfour.

There was no small stir at the public counter of the Bristol Post Office
on the first day of January, 1902, the day of issue of the new 1/2d.,
1d., 2-1/2d., and 6d. postage stamps, bearing the medallion portrait of
King Edward the VIIth. People were very anxious to become possessed of
specimens, and many of the stamps sold were evidently intended to adorn
collector's books. The sales on the 1st January, 1902, were:--1/2d.,
L175; 1d., L500;