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established very recently, and the Lord Chancellor is its President, the Earls of Harrowby, Albemarle, and Aberdeen, Lord Kinnaird, Sir Thomas Chambers, Mr. Samuel Morley, and other well-known philanthropists being among the vice-presidents. The Company has already five houses in operation :--

1.-The "Cabinet Makers' Arms," 113, High Street, Shoreditch.

2. The "Canterbury Arms," 63, New Cut.

3. The "Notting Hill Coffee Palace," 87, High Street, Notting Hill.

4. The "Admiral Napier," Chapel Street, Islington.

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5.-The Engineers' Arms," 22, Old Street.

By March, 1880, the Company hope to have at least twelve in all opened. Then again there is the Coffee Palace Public-House National Society, whose offices are at 13, Warwick Street, Regent Street; and the Temperance Refreshment Houses Company, 35, Queen Victoria Street, the work of the latter association seeming to be chiefly in the direction of securing existing coffee-houses of the ordinary character and public-houses, and converting them into modern temperance refreshment houses.

The next organisation, an important one, to be referred to, is the Coffee Public-House Association, 40, Charing Cross, of which the Duke of Westminster is President. The general committee consists of more than seventy noblemen, Members of the House of Commons, and gentlemen of position well known as supporters of social schemes for the benefit of the poorer classes. An executive committee, of which the Honble. W. F. Cowper-Temple, M.P., is Chairman, undertakes the practical work of the Association, assisted by the able and energetic secretary, Mr. Frederick Gore. This organisation differs from the others already alluded to in that its object is not to start coffee public-houses of its own, but to assist the general movement for the establishment of temperance refreshment houses in London and elsewhere. This it endeavours to do in various ways, which may be condensed under three heads, as follows :

"1. By bringing effectually before the public the necessity that exists for energetic, widespread, and concerted action, in order adequately to meet the requirements of the population, and to cope with the evils inseparable from the existing public-house.

"2. By collecting and diffusing the best available information with respect to the establishment and management of coffee public-houses, aud by aiding, with such advice as accumulated knowledge and experience may suggest, all persons who desire to assist in promoting them.

"3. By inviting subscriptions and donations for the formation

of a fund to be applied towards the establishment of coffee publichouses in suitable localities, and for the improvement and development, where desirable, of those that already exist."

The funds entrusted to the Association are chiefly used in advancing loans, at a moderate rate of interest, to associations and individuals who are establishing temperance refreshment houses; and occasionally free grants to a small amount are made in exceptional cases, where it appears that such help is likely to bring about a good result. Thus the Association acts as a kind of central agency and "council of advice," to which all interested in this movement may turn for information, counsel, and help. By putting themselves into communication with it a waste of power and even failure may often be prevented in the case of persons desirous of doing good, who will through its agency obtain practical guidance for successful action. This Association is well worthy of support, as all great movements require something like a fountain head and general centre round which to rally.

Another public company well deserving of notice as furthering the cause of temperance is the "People's Café Company," many of the leading supporters of which are to be found among those of the previously mentioned associations. The Company was founded in 1874, and its head offices are at 16, George Street, Mansion House. Among its chief houses may be mentioned the Farringdon Street, the St. Paul's Church Yard, and High Street, Whitechapel, establishments. As, however, they seem to aim at supplying the wants of a class above that which is generally known as the " working class," we shall say no more about it here, as being a little outside or rather above the movement to which this article is devoted. Still as one of the agencies at work in the cause of temperance, and as an ably conducted and successful enterprise, it has our very best wishes.

In addition to the coffee taverns in and about the metropolis belonging to public companies, there are many which are the result of private enterprise; and among them specially worthy of mention are Mr. Lockhart's "Cocoa Rooms." He has opened several of them in the northern towns of England, and has now extended his operations to London, where all supporters of temperance will heartily wish him success, as he is universally recognised as one of the "apostles" of the temperance refreshment houses movement. The last of his " rooms" opened is at 161, Westminster Bridge Road. But a very considerable number of

coffee public-houses have during the last three years been established in London and the suburbs, by private persons who are interested in the movement, and in some instances by a few private persons in combination. In all or in almost all of these cases the founders and proprietors of the houses look for a moderate return of interest on the money they have sunk, but true Christian philanthropy has been the real motive power which has led them to take an active part in the matter. establishments may be mentioned :

Among these

1.-The "Edinburgh Castle Coffee Palace," Rhodeswell Road, Limehouse. 2.-The "Dublin Castle Coffee Palace," 39, Mile End Road.

3. The "Royal Standard Cocoa House," Bell Street, Edgware Road.

4.-The "Rose and Crown Coffee Palace," Knightsbridge (opposite the barracks). 5.-The St. Katherine's Coffee l'alace," 156, High Street, Camden Town.

6.

The "Chimes Coffee Palace," Great Smith Street, Westminster.

7. The "Victoria Coffee Palace," Canonbury.

8. The "Welcome Coffee Public-house." Westow Street, Upper Norwood. 9.-The "Magdala Castle," Latimer Road, Notting Hill.

10.-The "Royal Oak," Acton.

11.-The "Star and Garter," Chelsea.

12.-The "Red House," Tottenham.

The first two on this list were established some years ago by Dr. Barnardo, and are well worth a visit, if only to observe how like a coffee tavern can be made to an ordinary public-house without being one in the sale of alcoholic drinks. Each and all the others will interest those who call in; and they will be found, generally speaking, on the model of the houses of the Coffee Tavern Company, though several in their general "appointments" are superior to them. One and all we believe pay their way, and in most instances are commercial successes. We do not give the names of their founders and proprietors, as probably the majority of them would not wish them to appear in public print.

As auxiliaries to the coffee public-houses, and conducive to the success of the movement, are the street stalls and barrows with their non-alcoholic refreshments. Many of them belong to the public companies already mentioned, and ply their work when the houses are closed at night and before they open in the morning. The Church of England Temperance Association is doing good service in this direction. The cabmen's shelters are also founded on temperance principles, and have been greatly appreciated by those on whose behalf they were established. Among these minor agencies may be especially mentioned the Kiosk and Coffee Stall Company, 40, Charing Cross. This Company was established only last year, and may be considered as coming before the public under the special auspices of the Coffee

Public-House Association, of whose work we have already given an outline. Its object is to establish kiosks, stands, stalls, rooms, shops, and other buildings, either of a permanent or temporary nature, especially in places of public resort, and thus it seems to occupy a field hitherto for the most part unworked. The first of its establishment was a kiosk recently erected in Hyde Park, with the permission and approbation of the First Commissioner of Works.

Such is a brief history of the temperance refreshment houses movement in London and the provinces, the rise and progress of which will ever remain a remarkable feature in the social reformation of the present era, whatever be its ultimate results. It is a matter for wonder as well as for congratulation that whereas about four years ago only three established companies were at work in the desired direction, the number now in the United Kingdom can be little short of seventy, if not more.

It is a matter also for satisfaction to know that this movement is not confined to this country. Its fame has crossed the seas, and in Switzerland and Holland, in the United States and Canada, and in our Australian Colonies it has already made considerable progress, and the day is probably not far distant when the coffee public-house, preserving its general character, but adapting itself with a certain elasticity of aspect and arrangement to the difference of climate and manners, will become firmly established at the Antipodes.

But while commending the excellence of the movement, and rejoicing in the success already achieved, and anticipating also its ultimate triumph, we must not be too sanguine of immediate results, or expect that temperance refreshment houses are about to effect a sudden revolution. They will undoubtedly form a considerable tributary, swelling the great stream of social progress which flows steadily onwards, fed from many different sources; but their influence is likely to be very gradual. It can hardly be expected that they will reclaim from actual intemperance many members of the present generation, for the drunkard of forty years of age has probably so injured his digestive organs, that stimulants have become a fatal necessity, and has habituated himself to spend so much on drink, that he cannot afford to buy the best and most easily digested food. These men must lie on the bed which they have made for themselves. But with younger men the coffee tavern may have the happiest effects. It is not meant, of course, that every man who

passes his evening at an establishment of this kind, instead of going to a tavern, must necessarily be a teetotaller. He may have taken his pint or his quart in the middle of the day, and be none the worse for it. He comes to the coffee tavern simply as a more rational, more wholesome, and more comfortable way of spending the evening, than by sitting for hours in a noisy and unsavoury public-house, drinking liquor which he does not want, and probably cannot afford. And it must never be forgotten that in any scheme for checking intemperance, no effort should be spared to discountenance drinking in the evening.

The promotion of evening sobriety will, therefore, be one of the great gains to be anticipated from the spread of these places of refreshment; and it is quite possible that an acquired taste for coffee or cocoa may lead a man in time to care less and less for anything else. On the utility of alcohol in repairing the waste occasioned by hard manual labour the doctors disagree. But it is certain that very hard work can be done for a protracted period by men who only take it seldom or not at all, as the recent performances of athletes in the rowing, running, and bicycling arenas abundantly testify. The greater facility for procuring non-alcoholic drinks of a good quality may probably lead the working classes to learn wisdom, and to find by experience that they can work as well and even better on them than on alcoholic stimulants. The coffee tavern, however, can only succeed if it is patronised by the working classes, and if it is so patronised it is fulfilling its existence. The same thing cannot be said of public-houses. Their commercial success is in inverse ratio to their moral expediency. But the proprietor of a coffee tavern will have the satisfaction of knowing that his own profits represent the improvement of the people, and that the richer he grows the more self-controlled are his customers becoming. But whatever the ultimate result of the movement, there will be the satisfaction of knowing that it has been tried, and that it has obtained the hearty support of many of the most eminent men of the day, who have the interests of their countrymen deeply at heart.

But the movement we have been speaking of is as yet confined almost exclusively to what we call "towns," and only a slight attempt has been made to extend it to villages. Let us then conclude with a few remarks in reference to the prospect of its further extension among small populations in the rural districts. The subject was brought before a meeting of the

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