Henry Solly; and there can be no doubt that
the movement throughout the country during
the past year has been greatly accelerated by
the zeal and devotion of this gentleman, and of
those who have acted with him. The precise
objects of the society are—to place the advantages
of these clubs prominently before the
public,—to assist in their formation by advice,
and (where necessary) by grants or loans of
money for first expenses, as well as books,
games, diagrams, fixtures, &c.,—and to help the
local committees in the work of government
until the new undertaking is sufficiently matured
to go alone. So little, however, does the Union
seek to fetter individual action, that, while
entertaining a strong feeling against the sale of beer
in such places, it has contented itself with
simply recommending a rule for its prohibition,
and does not refuse its support to any club
declining to adopt that rule. In some cases,
where the sale has been originally allowed, the
local committees have on their own motion
rescinded the permission: not, as we understand,
because any grave evils resulted from the
license, but because it was found not to harmonise
with the main objects of a Working Man's
Club, which are instruction and recreation.
During the past year the Union was instrumental
in establishing more than forty clubs; and from
thirty to forty weekly applications for advice
and assistance are still being received at the
central office. In the metropolis and its suburbs,
the Union is in relation with clubs at Bethnal-
green, Bishopsgate, Brentford, Bromley-by-
Bow, Canning Town, Crown-street (St. Giles's),
Duck-lane (Westminster), Fitzroy Works
(Euston-road), Forest Hill, Highgate, Holloway,
Homerton, Hounslow, Kentish Town,
Peckham, Pentonville, St. Clement Danes, St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields, Shoreditch, Southwark,
Victoria Docks, Walthamstow, Walworth, and
Wandsworth, and probably by this time with
others, for the number increases so rapidly that
it is impossible to fix it for more than a few
days at any given point. The provincial clubs
affiliated to the Union are so numerous that the
mere mention of their names would be tedious.
In addition to these, there are clubs, both in
town and country, which are not in any way
connected with the body presided over by Lord
Brougham; but they are in the minority. The
operations of the Union during 1863, were
conducted at the very small cost of £700, the
secretary having done a large part of his work
gratuitously. This sum chiefly accrued from
donations, for the regular income has not exceeded
£150. The association is now seriously hampered
for want of funds, and an appeal to the public
for assistance has been made by Lord Lyttelton,
one of the vice-presidents. It is an appeal which
we trust will be liberally answered by all who
have money to spare.

The constitution of Working Men's Clubs
necessarily varies, in some of its details, in
different places, for a rigid uniformity is neither to
be expected nor desired; but certain general
features are to be found in most of them. The
club-house contains a common room for conversation,
newspapers, refreshments, and games;
a library, a smoking-room, and rooms for educational
classes, for the business-meetings of the
committee, for transacting the affairs of friendly
societies, &c., for lectures, concerts, parties,
and miscellaneous amusements. In the country,
a cricket-ground is often attached, and, even in
London, space is sometimes found for playing
at skittles and ninepins. The subscription, in
some cases, is as low as a halfpenny a week, in
others a penny, but is more commonly twopence,
while, in a few instances, it is still higher.
There are also, in most places, quarterly,
half-yearly, and yearly subscriptions, by each of
which a small proportionate saving is effected
on the lower sum. Generally speaking, no election
of members or payment of entrance-fee is
required; but some few clubs demand both
these guarantees. The house, in the greater
number of cases, is kept open from eight in the
morning until ten or eleven at night; some
institutions, however, only open in the evening,
after work-hours. Any one may enter at any
time by paying the weekly subscription, and, as
the great object is to make the working man
feel as much at home as he does in the taproom
of the public-house, the rough working dress is
no disqualification whatever. The artisan or
labourer may go to the club in his dirt, as the
expressive phrase is, and he will find a lavatory,
in which he may make himself tidy and
comfortable for the evening. When he has done
this, he can turn into the bar, and get his cup
of coffee and bread-and-butter, or, if he has a
steak or a rasher of bacon with him, he can have
it cooked on the premises for a mere trifle. On
this head, we may mention an excellent
suggestion made by Mr. Forster, M.P., at a meeting
held at Bradford a few mouths ago. He
suggested the establishment, in connexion with
these clubs, of a co-operative hotel—a public
kitchen for the working classes, such as have
already been started by themselves in several
places. The large room, he observed, might be
a kitchen during the day, and a reading-room at
night. Dinners, if we mistake not, are even
now supplied at a few of these institutions; at
the Holloway Club, some of the members breakfast
on the premises, and a coal club has been
formed for the purchase of coals at a reduced
rate; but these examples should be more widely
followed, for workmen's clubs will succeed or
fail in proportion as they more or less
completely satisfy the legitimate wants of the class
they address.

The social wants are very well supplied
already. The member may, if he please, step into
the smoking-room and enjoy his pipe; or he can
read the newspaper or a book; or he can play a
game at draughts, chess, dominoes, solitaire, or
skittles; or he can attend a class for instruction
in some useful branch of knowledge, or a forum
for political debate; while, on special nights,
he is entertained by concerts, lectures, and other
amusements, to which he may bring his wife and
children. With respect to the wives, their