Free Drinks

Southland Times, Issue 19387, 10 September 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

Free Drinks

" 00l 'aye a cooler '.'*' js the-raucous query the street-corner ice-cream vendor addresses to youthful Londoners (writes the correspondent of the Lyttel ton Times). The Evening News repeats tho cry in a more elegant form, for, taking advantage of the tot weather to secure a novel advertisement, tho enter- , prising proprietors of this journal have made arrangements with the ".ocal authorities in the Metropolis to allow them to distribute filtered and iced writer to thirsty wayfarers freo of charge. They have placed nicely decorated btamls at various points, and on these capecicus filters, with a generous supply of paper cups. Above the stand Is a bold invitation to passers-by to step up ami have a glass of pure cold wnter fiee. T'ach thirsty. applicant icceives a cup brimming full of iced water. The cups having been used onco aro thrown away, so there is no danger to the free drinker of " catching something " from a 'dirty vessel. In less than a woek over 50,000 cups of water have been dispensed by the News stands, involving the use of some ' 30-OQ gallons of water and over a ton of ice. A couple of dozen peoplo are engaged in the work of washing the filters decorating tho stands and making preparations for each day's supply- It costs the proprietors of the News a good deal ono way and another, but it is undoubtedly a splendid advertisement for their journal. At tho same ti/me they aro doing good. The absence of proper drinks in tho hot weather is a menace to public health. Cool, pure water in moderation, is undoubtedly one of the best liquids a thirsty person can tako, and it is at the same tfcmo ono of the hardest things to como at in London unless you pay fur it,-