696 Mr. James Mansergh [March 18, 



as sufficient for the accommodation of 168 scholars. At first, con- 

 siderable difficulty was experienced in bringing the navvy children 

 under the discipline of regular instruction, but now good progress 

 is being made, and, at the last esamination by the Government In- 

 spector, the school earned the highest possible grant, 



" I must now refer to the canteen : To this institution a special 

 interest attaches, as we have here an experiment embodying some of 

 the suggestions thrown out for the regulation of the liquor traffic. 

 In point of fact, the canteen is a municipal public house, and is, I 

 think, the only instance of the kind in the United Kingdom. Oa 

 the question of the drink traffic there were the three proverbial 

 courses open to the Water Committee : — 



" 1. To do nothing, and allow any enterprising publicans who 

 could obtain licenses to set up their establishments and conduct their 

 trade in the usual manner. 



" 2. To attempt to prohibit the traffic altogether. 



" 3. To undertake the provision of beer for the use of the com- 

 munity, but under such regulations as should render it least hurtfuL 



" The objection to the first course is obvious. The navvies — in 

 common, alas, with many others — readily yield to temptations to 

 drink when they have the means of gratifying the appetite; and 

 during the summer inonkhs, when regularity in the gangs is of the 

 utmost importance, and at the same time when earnings are highest, 

 there would be the greatest likelihood of the demoralising and 

 disastrous effects of drunkenness asserting themselves. 



" To the second course the objection was none the less marked. 

 The people, rightly or wrongly, will have their beer, and without 

 facilities to obtain it in a legitimate manner, they would decline the 

 place altogether or resort to illicit meaiis to supply themselves. It 

 was held, therefore, to be impolitic to attempt prohibition, and I think 

 it would have been unwise to prohibit altogether the sale of beer. 



" The third alternative course, then, was that adopted, namely, to 

 provide beer under stringent regulations. The canteen is placed 

 in charge of a manager, in whose name the license stands. The 

 manager has no interest in the sale of the drink ; his salary is fixed, 

 and is sufficiently liberal to command the services of a thoroughly 

 reliable and respectable man. The points against which he must 

 guard himself are, incivility to customers on the part of himself or 

 his assistants, lack of cleanliness in the house and drinking vessels, 

 adulteration of the liquors, selling out of hours, and disorder and 

 drunkenness on the part of his customers. If he is able to avoid 

 offence in all these respects he is thought no worse of if the 

 takings fall off, and no better of if they increase. To promote the 

 objects in view, stringent regulations have been enacted ; and the 

 regulations are not merely printed and hung on the walls, but are 

 actually enforced. The sale of drink is refused to men who show 

 signs of having had enough, or who have already been sujjplied up to 

 the stipulated limit. No women or children are permitted in the bar- 



