The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

IttraDolit au.

THE BISHOP OF LONDON attended a meeting on
Monday of the Islington Church Extension Society,
held for the purpose of considering the propriety of
building ten new churches in Islington. The Bishop
of London delivered an address upon the occasion,
and, while recognising the wisdom of leaving the
general question of church extension at rest for the
present, maintained its necessity in the parish of
Islington :
It is (said the right rev, prelate) because the people
have been first brought, as it were, from the hedges and
the highways to listen to the preaching of the Gospel, and
because so much progress has been made, that we are
anxious to consummate the work we have begun by build-
ing churches for which the congregations are already
waiting. I think, therefore, we are, in the heat sense of
the word, acting in the spirit of the age. We are guided
by those who know the pulse of public feeling—we have
got the congregation first, and wo now wish to build the
church for them to enter. Under these circumstances, I
think we are fully justified in launching our scheme ; and
we have not only the approval of Bishop Illonifield to the
movement, but also the evidence of the clergy of the dis-
trict as to the satisfactory results on the population of the
means already adopted to meet the spiritual destitution of
the parish Let it not be said that this is an
effort merely to raise stone churches. It is an effort to
preach the living Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our desire
to win men to think of their souls, and, having done that,
we desire to have a regular church: and we hope, when
the present generation will have passed away, these ten
churches will remain as a memorial of our good inten-
tions, and of our zeal in the service of religion, although
we know how little we can do compared with that which
is expected sna commanded of us by our Heavenly Judge.
Upon the question of endowment or voluntary sub •
scription the Bishop observed :
I quite admit that there is a great deal in what is said
about the necessity of endowments, and no one doubts that
they are very good things—(laughter)—and though we
cannot do very well without them, the Church of England
never has been and never will be afraid to depend upon
the sympathy which it commands among the middle and
lower classes. We feel certain that they will respond to
the call, and that no man will be allowed to labour for
f.:hrist's sake without the means of maintaining himself
and his family. We are not, of course, advocates of the
voluntary avatem—that would be absurd ; hut we say we
are quite willing to allow as much of it in our system as
would allow of Churchmen paying for their seats in the
church a sufficient sum to support their minister.

The parish of Islington contains church accommoda-
tion for only about 36,000 in a population of 115,000.
A DEPI'rATION FROM GRAVESEND, headed by Sir
Culling Eardley, and consisting of the mayor and
aldermen of the town, waited on Saturday upon the
Purposes Committee of the Court of Aldermen, at
Guildhall, to call the attention of the court to the
nature of the proposed new drainage scheme. Sir
Culling Eardley entered at some length into the
details of the plan with the view of showing its in•

SATURDAY,

sufficiency, and requested that lectures by eminent
engineers upon the subject might be permitted to be
given in the Guildhall:—

He would venture to suggest that a committee might
be formed, either a committee of the Court of Aldermen
pro hac vice, or a spontaneous committee of citizens of
London, to watch the question, and in particular to give
facilities for putting before the public tho various plans
proposed. Could there be a better employment of the in-
fluence of the Court of Aldermen, and of the locality of the
Guildhall, where they were now met, than to allow the use
of the latter on certain days, to any respectable engineers
to lecture on their respective plans?

Mr. Alderman Wire, the chairman of the committee,
stated that the City, as conservators of the Thames,
were interested to see that in any plan for the purifi-
cation of the Thames the health and comfort of the
inhabitants on its banks were duly provided for, and
that no obstruction be caused to the navigation ; that
the subject would receive the attention of the com-
mittee, and a communication would be made to the
deputation thereon.

THE MINOR CANONRY OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL,
vacant by the death of the Rev. E. G. Beckwith,
M.A., has been conftrred by the Dean and Chapter
upon the Rev. B. Morgan Cowie, M.A., of St. John's
College, Cambridge. The rev. gentleman was the
senior wrangler of his year (1839), and afterwards
became Principal of the Civil Engineers' College at
Putney. He holds at the present time the Gresham
Professorship of Mathematics in the city of London,
and was from 1853 to 1855 Hulsean Lecturer at
Cambridge.
THE SOUTHWARK DEPUTATION of objectors to the
proposed new street had an interview with Sir Ben-
jamin Hall on Tuesday, to recommend, instea l of
the plan proposed by the Metropolitan Board of
Works, one which would begin by removing the
Town-hall and other houses, to widen the
Borough High street, then go across to the Black-
friars-road, thence to the Waterloo•road Rail
way-station, over the vacant ground on the north
side of that station, into York road. This line, they
said, would cost 57,000!. less than that proposed by
the Metropolitan Board, though its entire length
would be nearly double that of the latter. Sir B.
Hall, in reply, said he had heard from many gentle-
men connected with the Borough that they con-
sidered the plan of the Metropolitan Board a very
good one, and if any of the inhabitants were dissatis-
fied with it they should oppose it before the parlia-
mentary committee.

THE DANGER of sitting "right into" the fire on a
cold day was exemplified last week in the case of an
elderly maiden lady, a Miss Hog, living in Highbury-
place, Islington. Miss Hog, on Thursday week, the
morning being bitterly cold, was seated with her feet
on the fender before a large fire, holding her dress
to it for greater warmth. The housekeeper said she
really believed she was on fire ; but the lady strongly
protested against this. In a moment or two Miss
Hog's dress burst into flames. The housekeeper
and another servant happily got them under, but
Miss Hog, though not much burnt, was so shaken
that she died on the following morning.
THE SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW is acknow-
ledged to have been one of the best exhibitions for
some years past. The gold medal for the finest ox
was won by Mr. Heath, of Ludham-hall, near Nor-
wich. His Grace the Duke of Richmond carried off
the prize this year for sonthdowns, beating his com-
petitor, Mr. Rigden, of Hove. His Ro.al Highness
Prince Albert has not been fortunate this year with
either his cattle or pigs. Lord Walsingham has
come into the field as a competitor for soutlidowns,
though winning only second honours. The arrange-
ments of the club were excellent, and the annual
dinner took place on Wednesday. His Grace the
Duke of Richmond presided, and, in congratulating
the society upon its sound financial condition, stated
that the cluo was so prosperous and well supported,
it was under consideration, by extending the classes
for prizes, to increase the premiums from 850/. to
1,200/. a year. This resolution has since been
adopted, and distinct prizes will in future be offered
for Norfolk and Suffolk, polled animals, Sussex cattle,
long-horned Leicesters, and other classes of sheep
and pigs.

THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETITRNS FOR THE
WEEK show an increase of deaths. From 1,158 they
rose last week to 1.318. The births for the same
period amounted to 1,521).