The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-10 00:00:00

CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES.

The progress which the movement for co-operation
has been making in this country has been exemplified
in a statement made at the present Co-operation Con-
gress at Manchester. It appears that in 1860 only 150
societies existed, whereas, in 1862 there were 330 ;
and at the present time the number has increased to,
at least, 1,000; with 250,000 members. A great
deal of diversity of opinion was expressed when a
member of the same Congress made the novel
proposition that a bank for co-operative purposes,
with a capital of £50,000, should be established. The
preponderance of the members were, however, in
favour of the institution, and the executive com-
mittee were requested to give their consideration to
the subject.

CHESTER CATHEDRAL.

Mr. Gilbert Scott, the architect, has delivered a
lecture inChester on the history of Chester Cathedral.
The Dean, who presided, called attention to the im-
portance of including the south transept in the
general restoration, so that the ancient dignity might
be preserved to the interior. Mr. Gilbert Scott began
his lecture by referring to the church which stood on
the spot in Anglo-Saxon days; he then described the
portions of Norman work which survive in the cathe-
dral. In 1195 the monks made an appeal for help in
consequence of the dilapidation which had taken
place. It is curious to notice that the present
generation have followed their example after the
lapse of nearly seven centuries. The most attractive
part of the lecture was that devoted to the descrip-
tions of the architectural structure, and the manner
in which its true forms of buttresses, cornices, and
aisles, had been disinterred during the work of re-
construction. At the conclusion of the lecture Mr.
Scott conducted the assembly through the Cathedral
and round the exterior so as to illustrate its architec-
ture in chronological order.

NIGHT REFUGES.

Is it altogether a barren hope that some day the
charities of the metropolis will be properly organised P
—that the time will come when refuges will not
clash with workhouses, nor benevolent societies he
doing over again what the poor-rate has done pre-
viously, when our poor will not be undergoing a
" pauperisation ?" One step in that direction has
been taken at the Conference held in London on
Wednesday. Under the advice of the Earl of Lich-
field, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Mr. Gurney Hoare, and
others, a resolution was unanimously passed.

" That the primary object of the nightly refuges,
namely, giving shelter and food to houseless persons,
having been provided for by the arrangements made under
the Houseless Poor Act, it is desirable to give a preventive
or remedial character to these institutions, conforming
them to the principle of industrial schools, penitentiaries,
or homes of the character of the House of Charity (Soho),
and the Dudley Stuart House of Refuge, in which persons
overtaken by misfortune may obtain temporary asylum
preparatory to their return to useful and respectable
positions in life."

The want of system under which poor relief (being
thought degrading to the recipient) was totally
ignored in benevolent plans is rapidly coming to an
end. Is not some progress being made ?

THE "BRAHMA SOMA) " IN INDIA.

The Baboo KeshubChunder Sen comes to us as
the representative of the progress, culture, and
tolerance of Kodern Hindostan. As such he has
been received. But the Record, which would not
recognise any movement as good whose object did
not profess to be Low Church Christianity, declares
that the Brahma Somaj, the sect which Mr. Sen
leads in India, is intolerant towards Christianity. In
proof thereof our contemporary publishes a letter
from Calcutta, describing the efforts made to prevent
a young widow from living with Christians.
Against the wish of her friends she had
been baptised ; contrary to their will she
persisted in living with her new co-religionists.
Finding " moral suasion " of no avail, her mother
tried to retain her by legal force. The judge, how-
ever, before whom she brought the case decided
that the young lady might do as she pleased, and she
chose to remain with the Christians. " Verily
(moralises the writer of the letter) it seems as
if this most instructive case had happened provi-
dentially, at a time when the good people of England
needed to have their eyes open to the true character
of the 'freedom of conscience' which 'theistic'
professors are disposed to accord."