XXX DIVERS PUBLIC FUNCTIONS 79 



Holidays led to drunkenness, he applied to Sir J. 

 Bridge, Chief Magistrate for London, to ascertain 

 the truth of the charge : 



2 St. James's Square, S.W., 

 20/A March 1897. 



Dear Sir John Bridge — Can you tell me if there are 

 any statistics of the number of cases of Drunkenness and 

 Assaults brought before the London Police Courts on 

 the day after, and arising out of, Bank Holiday ? 



A recent writer has made the extraordinary assertion 

 that from |th to ^th of the poor (adult) population, 

 including women, get drunk on these occasions. — Pray 

 excuse my troubling you, and believe me, yours very 

 truly, John Lubbock. 



Sir John Bridge, Chief Magistrate. 



Sir John Bridge replied that he did not think 

 any special statistics bearing on the question were 

 kept, but said that as far as his own experience 

 went, the days after Bank Holidays were ones on 

 which there were " remarkably few charges." 



His breakfast-parties continued to be frequent 

 and apparently were popular. At one we find the 

 list of guests recorded : "Lord Roberts, Lord Kelvin, 

 The Speaker, the President of the Royal Academy, 

 Sir E. Arnold, Wedderburn, Sir D. Currie, C. 

 Corbett, A. Grant Duff." It was the year of the 

 "Diamond Jubilee," and many of the Colonials 

 were introduced to this form of hospitality, which 

 he was among the very last — perhaps was the 

 last — to maintain in London. " June 24. — Some 

 of the Colonial Premiers came to breakfast — 

 Turner of Victoria, Sir H. Muir of Queensland, 

 Seddon of New Zealand, Kingston of South 

 Australia and Colonel Denison of Canada. We 

 had a [scientific party to meet them — Kelvin, 



