Page 57 - Bulletin 9 2005

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Post Office Station.”

On 13 March 1857 a severe storm hit the Cape Peninsula and delayed the delivery of the
Royal Mail to Simon’s Town as the road between Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town was

blocked by rockfalls. No penalties were imposed on the contractor in this instance but in

the condition of tender for mail delivery certain penalties did apply. These were:

For any detention on the Mail, or any part thereof, beyond the time specified or the
distance allowed, the Contractor shall forfeit according to the following scale: £ s d
For every period not exceeding half an hour ........................... 0 2 6
For half an hour, and not exceeding one hour ......................... 0 7 6
For one hour, and not exceeding an hour and a half ................ 0 15 0
For one hour and a half, and not exceeding two hours ............ 1 1 0
For two hours, and not exceeding two hours and a half........... 2 0 0
And for every additional half hour beyond two hours and a half, the additional sum of ten
shillings.

In 1859 two post-carts, operating in opposite directions, were introduced on the Cape
Town-Simon’s Town mail route. One cart would leave Melville’s premises in Plein Street

daily at 11 am (returning 7 pm) while the other started from Vincent’s in Simon’s Town at

7 am (returning 3 pm). This time was changed to 8 am returning 4 pm in winter. No post-
carts operated on Sundays.

This arrangement of two post-carts operating daily in opposite directions did not last the

full year for on 3 December 1859 The Cape Monitor reported “The second daily mail
between Cape Town and Simon’s Town was discontinued from 1 December, Mr. Melville

having lost the contract and the new contractor not running a second cart is the cause. The

mail from Cape Town to Simon’s Town will close hereto at a quarter to two.”

In 1860 Canon John Widdicombe gave an account of a typical post-cart that was used on

the Kalk Bay-Simon’s Town route. He described it as a vehicle which looked like a square
water-tank on two wheels with an iron rail around it. Inside this tank the mail was stowed

and when the mail was heavy and the tank full, as was often the case, the remaining bags