The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-09 00:00:00

GLOUCESTER MUSICAL FESTITAL.

GLOUCESTER, Monday.—The 133 d festival of the
Three Choirs of Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester
has opened hero to-day under the most favourable au-
spices. The weather is magnificent, and the town is
filling rapidly.
The principal vocalists are Madame Clara Novello,
Mrs. Clara Hepworth, Madame ViardotGarcia, Madame
Alboni, Mrs. Temple, Mr. and Mrs. Locksy, Mr. Sims
Reeves, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Weiss, and Mr. Gassier,
Mr. Amott, organist of Gloucester cathedral, is con-
ductor, Mr. G. Townsend Smith (Hereford) takes the
organ, and Mr. Done (Worcester) the pianoforte. The
orchestra numbers altogether 300 performers.
The programme of the week may be briefly summed
up. To-morrow there will be full cathedral service, with
a sermon by the new Lishop of the Diocese, Handel's
"Dettingen Te Deum," and " Coronation Anthem,"and
Mendelssohn's " Hear my Prayer.' 'On Wednesday will I
be given the " Elijah" of Mendelssohn ; on Thursday, I
the first part of Haydn's "Creation," Mozart's "Re-
quiem," selections from Mendelssohn's "St. Paul," and
" Eli," with other sacred pieces ; and on Friday " The
Messiah." This last is always a most attractive morning.
Everybody goes to listen to the glorious masterpiece of
Handel, and it is a fact that nearly every ticket for the
secured seats on Friday morning has already been taken.
The evening concerts came off at the Shirehall, on
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The scheme for
these is made up almost entirely of selections from old
standard operas. The first part of Tuesday's concert is
the best selection of the series, being made up from the
works of Mozart (and especially from his opera of " Fig-
aro") and of the " Lorely" fragment (Mendelssobn),
which was given at the last Gloucester meeting. All
the chief principals sing at these concerts. Alboni does
not appear at all in the morning schemes, and the selec-
tions include some of the most favourite and well-used
pieces from the works of Rossini, Weber, Beethoven,
Haydn, Donizetti, and Bellini. A madrigal is set down
f in each night's scheme. A ball is announced to follow
I the concert on Tuesday evening, and a full-dress ball on
Friday evening.
The rehearsal at the Cathedral this morning went off
admirably.
-

The Lord Mayor yesterday remitted a further sum of
65,000 f. to Paris for the sufferers by the inundations.
thus raising the total amount to 830,0001., or 33,0001.
The bar kilvcr brought by the last West India steamer
has been sold at 610., showing an advance of sd. The
dollars are still on band, and it is anticipated. that Sales
will not be effected for some dap.

The preparations for carrying into effect the project
of dividing London into ten postal districts, mentioned
in the Duke of Argyll's recent report on the Post-office
department, have commenced. At present I foldon and
its suburbs, included within a circle, the cent: o of which
1., St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the radius about 12 or 14
miles in length, form one large postal distriet. Almost
all 'etters posted within that circle, or in. the provinces,
are conveyed to the General Post-office„ where they are
trimarily sorted into districts, and the in into postmen's
walks. These arrangements cause mach delay in the
delivery of London letters, on accouc it of the double
sorting, and of the journeying of the p 3stmen from the
General Post-offiee to distant walks. These arrange-
ments cause additional delay also by making I:ttera
travel over much unnecessary ground. Thus a letter
posted at Kingsland.road for Stamford-hill has to travel
to the General Post-office, and then back a,o;ain over the
same ground, before it gets to its dest. nation ; and
letters for the London district posted in the provinces
often pass by the suburb or street to which they are ad-
dressed on their way to the General Post-office, and then
return again by the same route to be delivered. It has
long been seen that if letters could be sorted into London
districts according to their addresses before they Left the
provinces, or the particular parts in London near which
they were posted, and if they were taken direct to the
centre of those districts, where a staff of letter-carriers
could be stationed, such letters would merely haw to be
separated into postmen's walks, and they could be deli-
vered after their arrival or posting in London. in one
half of the time at present occupied.
According to the new arrangements, London will be
divided into ten postal districts—viz., east central, west
central, northern, north eastern, north western, eastern,
western, southern, south eastern, and south western.
The seven former of these districts will be situated chiefly
on the north and the three latter on the south side of the
Thames. The east central and west central districts will
comprehend the chief business portions of the City. The
other eight districts will branch off from them in A some-
what triangular shape. The following streets, squares,
&c., will indicate the boundaries of the various
districts :—The east central district will be bounded by
Bishopsgate-street, City-road, Amwell-street, and the
Thames ; the west central district by Gray's-inn-lane,
K ng's-cross,Burton-crescent, Bedford-square, Trafalgar-
square, and the Thames ; the Western district by Tot.
tenham-court-road, Devonshire-street, Maida-hill, Ken-
sall-green, Brent river, Southall, Isleworth, Chiswick,
Kensington, and Piccadilly ; the eastern district ov the
Minories, Whitechapel-road, Mile-end, Old Ford,
Alderabrook, Barkingside, Collier's-row, Romforil, Rain.
ham, and the Thames; the southern by Blackfria7ni.road
Newington, Norwood, Addington, Cheatnly 1 lalde,
Upper Tooting, Clapham, and Lambeth ; the no rtheru,
by Pentonville, Finchley, Rowley-green, Potts r's bar,
Waltham-cross, Tottenham, and Stoke Newingtc.n ; the
south western, by Charing-cross, Brompten. Ridimond-
park, Sunbury, Hampton, Wimbledon, Wandsworth,
Battersea, and the Thames ; the north-western, by the
New-road, Somers-town, Kentish-town, Kend all-hall,
Harrow Station, Perivale, Kilburn, and Portland-town;
the north-eastern, by Shoreditch,
Shacklewell, Hainhault, Epping, and Vic.
toria-park; the south-eastern, by New Kent-road,
Peckham, Penge, Keston, Bexley, Erith, and the
Thames. In each district there will be a chief sorting-
office' having its own staff of sorters and letter-carriers,
and having a direct postal communication with the
chief office of every other district, and with every post
town in the kingdom. Letters arriving at these chief
offices will only have to be separated into letter carriers'
walks, when they will be immediately distributed.
In many of these walks there will be hourly deliveries
of letters, ten times daily ; into which deliveries the
letters which are now continually flowing into the
metropolis from provincial towns and from foreign
mails landed at the outports throughout the day will
fall. The facilities which the new arrangements will
afford the inhabitants of London for communicat-
ing with each other will be very great. At present
some considerable time elapses before a letter can be
delivered, even in the same street in which it is posted,
hut by the new arrangements this inconvenience will no
longer be felt ; and prompt business or social appoint-
ments may then be arranged at a short notice through
the post. The districts are marked out on maps of Lon-
don and its suburbs, and lists have been printed in which
the postal district of every street, square, court, alley,
banking house, newspaper office, public establishment,
village, and hamlet in London and its neighbourhood is
stated. Clerks from the General Post-office are now
travelling over the country, instructing country post-
masters and their clerks how to sort the vast number of
letters for London into districts. Some idea of the
labour of the memory which this mode of letter-sorting
requires may be imagined from the rapidity with which
letter-sorting is accomplished in post-offices, arid from
the fact that in the ten districts there are upwards of
6,000 localities.
The Post-office department will be greatly assisted, and
the convenience of the public secured, if persons address.
ing letters for London and its neighbourhood add to the
direction the initials of the postal district in which their
correspondents reside, and this will no doubt be gene-
rally attended to if the inhabitants of London add those
initials to their bill heads, advertisements in the London
newspapers, and to the headings of their private letters.
Thus a letter for St. Paul's-churchyard should have E. C.
added to the address, and placed separately below it,
which would signify East Central. W. C. should be
added to the word Strand, which would signify West
Central. W. to Portman-square, to signify West.
N. W. to St. John's-wood, Regent's-park, to signify
North West ; S. to Lambeth, South was k ; S. E. to
High-street. Borough ; E. to Roinford ; N. to Totten-
ham ; N. E. to Bethnal-green-road ; S. W. to Brompton,
&c. When the new scheme of the London district post
shall be in full operation the metropolis of England will
have postal accommodation superior to any city of the
world.