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cheque to its destination, and to believe me ever your Grace's faithful servant,
- His Grace the Duke of Westminster, K.G.
Another class who urgently need the refreshment and shelter of the Coffee Publichouse is that of single working women. In many towns large numbers of women are employed in factories and workshops, often at a considerable distance from their homes, to whom, when they require to take their meals, no place of shelter is open except the publichouse. In some parts of London women leaving the factory at midday may often be seen taking a cold and unsatisfying meal in the open air—on a doorstep or in a corner, anywhere—exposed to the inclemency of the weather. Wherever suitable coffee-room accommodation has been provided for them, working women have gladly availed themselves of it. One of the houses of the People's Café Company in High Street, Whitechapel, has many customers of this class. Working men also, in addition to suitable evening resorts, have urgent need of places of rest and refreshment during the day when employed, as in many cases they are, at a distance from their homes.
What is wanted, then, is an attractive place of resort for the men referred to by Miss Nightingale, and for the working classes generally—a house open to all comers; in short, a satisfactory substitute for the ordinary publichouse from the working man's point of view.
During the last few years houses approaching more or less nearly to this description have been opened either by companies, committees, or individuals, in London and in various parts of the country, and have met with different degrees of success.[1] What has been done bears, however, no
- ↑ The most striking example of successful work up to the present time is presented by the Liverpool British Workman Publichouse Company (Limited), which was established in 1875, with a capital of ₤20,000 in ₤1 shares. This company has opened (April 1878) twenty-nine houses, and is paying 10 percent. dividend; carrying over at the same time 5 per cent. to a reserve fund, and writing off a considerable sum for depreciation.
