The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-22 00:00:00

The Drinking Fountain Movement.

The anniversary meeting of the Metropolitan Free
Drinking Fountain Association was held yesterday
at Willis's-rooms, St. James's, under the presidency
of Mr. Samuel Gurney, M.P., with whom were the
Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., the Hon. F. Byng,
and other gentlemen interested in the moral and
social advancement of the masses. After the re-
port had been read, the Chairman said the drinking
fountain movement was eminently calculated to
minister to the health and welfare of the poorer
classes, and to promote habits of temperance among
the thousands of working classes thronging the
streets of London. Little more than six years since'
there was not a single street-drinking fountain in
London, and the only free supplies of water were to
be obtained at the street pumps, which were few in
number, scattered at great distances from each
other, often situated in out-of-the-way courts and
alleys, and the water of which was in many cases
little better than liquid poison. The society had
done much towards remedying these evils, for 89
drinking fountains had been opened when the re-
port was written, and two had been erected since,
many of them situated in the leading thoroughfares
of the metropolis, in the very heart of its traffic,
dust, and heat. Not only had the society made this
provision for the wants of the itinerant poor, but it
had also so educated the public mind on the subject
that many fountains had been erected by private
persons, who would, probably, not have discovered
this new channel for their benevolence had it not
been for the prior operations of this association, so
the association might fairly lay claim to having
given the thirty thousands of London from 120 to
130 drinking fountains, where they might obtain
water day and night " without money and without
price." Not only hid provision been made by the
society for the wants of mankind, but, as far as the
funds would allow, it had sought to alleviate the suf-
ferings of dumb creatures by placing about the metro-
polis many troughs for dogs and several large troughs
for cattle ; and though the number of these was far
below whElt they should be, still it was the beginning
of a good work. This was what the society had done
and it wanted to do more—it wanted so to multiply
the fountains and troughs that there should not be
the slightest necessity for either man or beast suffer-
ing from thirst in the streets of London. It was
considered that 200 more fountains would not fully
supply the need there was for them, and the com-
mittee were afraid to say how many troughs were
needed ; but he considered that no street in London
should be without one. The fountains under the
care of the society were visited twice a week, and
every one of them was in working order and well
supplied with water, but several of them which had
been erected apart from the society had become
dilapidated for want of supervision and were unsup-
plied with water. The society had the discredit of
these fountains, for it was believed by the public
that it had them under its care, and so general was
this opinion that one or two newspapers had advo-
cated the placing the whole of the fountains under
parochial control. It happened, however, that the
dilapidated and dry fountains were under parochial
control which had proved unequal to the task, for
some of the parishes had petitioned the society to
take the fountains under its management. The
society was willing to do this, but it required funds
—the task of supplying drinking water, which was
partaken of daily by at least 300,000 people, de-
manded an income larger than the society had '
received. The Hon. F. Byng proposed the first
resolution, " That the report should be printed and
circulated," which was seconded by Mr. Futvoye,
and carried. Mr. S. C. Hall proposed the re-election
of the committee, and a vote of thanks to the gentle-
men composing it, and for their attention to the
society, and said that the work carried out by the
society had been a great aid to the temperance move-
ment and a great benefit to the poor, as well as con-
tributing graceful ornaments to the metropolitan
thoroughfare. The Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P.,
seconded the motion, which was also carried.
Mr. Manockjee Cursetjee, of Bombay, in propos-
ing a vote of thanks to the chairman, described
the hardships which had been experienced in former
times in his native Presidency by the want of
water, a want which, he said, had been supplied by.
the British Government at an enormous expendi-
ture of money. The vote was seconded, carried,
and acknowledged, and the proceedings terminated.