s are easier to ascertain,
it has been found that in reality the fountains do keep people from
frequenting beer-shops, and, therefore, do keep them sober. A gentleman
who largely employs workmen in ironworks in the town of Wednesbury,
having recently erected fountains for his workpeople, says that his
manager has since observed an improvement in their habits and regularity
of attendance, attributable to their discarded use of beer, in
consequence of the facility of obtaining pure water which the fountains
afford. The publicans in London understand this, as it appears from the
report of the committee of the Free Drinking Association, held at
Willis's Rooms last week, when the drinking cups have been missing they
have invariably been found at some neighbouring public-house. The
movement, as we have intimated, commenced at Liverpool; it was not long
before it reached London. According to Mr. Wakefield, the honorary
secretary of the Association, there was a greater need for this movement
in London than elsewhere, owing to the fact that the greater radiation of
heat from a larger surface of buildings, less shade, more smoke and dust,
and longer street distances, combines to make London a more
thirst-exciting place than any provincial town. Mr. Samuel Gurney, M.P.,
was the first, who, in a letter published in some of the Loudon papers,
called attention to the grievous privation which the want of these
fountains inflicted on the London poor, and subsequently by his great
personal influence and liberal pecuniary contributions, and unwearied
exertions founded the Association; the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Earl of
Carlisle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other distinguished noblemen
and gentlemen rallied around him. London parishes and vestries have most
of them come forward and contributed, and already nearly a hundred
drinking fountains have been erected by this Association. It is inferred
from the Liverpool statistics that at least 400 fountains might be
advantageously erected in London; these could not be constructed and kept
in repair at a less cost than 20,000 pounds. To gain this sum the
Association appeals to the public. Last year the total receipts of the
Association amounted to 2,609 pounds; much more is required; a very good
sign, indicative of the appreciation on the part of Londoners of the boon
offered them, is found in the fact that the poor themselves are
contributing voluntarily and in an unostentatious