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18
opportunity for collecting it. I have had a return
made to me by the inspectors, of the time that the
Avater is usually on in the courts and alleys of the
City, and I find that it varies from a quarter of an
hour to an hour, the average time being half an hour.
This is too short a time for filling butts and cisterns;
and, therefore, during the greater part of every
day they are without water: on Sundays they are
nearly always without it. It would be a great boon
to them if the daily supply was continued for an
hour instead of half an hour, and if there was a
like supply on Sundays. The drinking fountains
are resorted to in many cases ; for the poor have
a wholesome dread of the City pumps. It is estimated
that upwards of a quarter of a million of
people take advantage of the drinking fountains
in this metropolis on a summer's day; more
than 8,000 persons have been known to drink
at one of them in a single day. The water presents
so marked a contrast to that from the City
pumps, that it is always preferred; and it is to be
regretted that the funds of the Drinking Fountain
Association are not sufficient to maintain a larger
number of fountains. Already there are about
one hundred of them in this metropolis, but there
is need of at least a hundred more. The necessity
is all the more urgent from the circumstance that
in many localities the unwholesome water of the
City pumps is the only supply at hand, and this