The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-20 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Tuunspay.

It is fortunate that Conservatives have got weary of
the Land Bill, for the hot weather has come upon us sud-
denly with a leap, and we, who a week ago were shivering
by, the fire and clothing ourselves in overcoats, are
now eating ices and donning white hats. The
miraculous progress made with the bill on Monday was
beyond the fondest hopes of the most sanguine
member of the Government, say Mr. Gladstone, for who
ever before saw the Conservative benches without a single
occupant. To-night the House is called upon to discuss
Sir John Gray's and Mr. Morrison's, i.e., Judge Longfield's
alternative scheme, but with the thermometer at a good
deal over 70 in the shade, I don't look for a long debate.
Of course, now the Land Bill is so far advanced, the pro-
spect of the Education Bill is vastly improved ; and as Mr.
Gladstone has promised that the second measure should
be placed in the same position as the first as soon as that
was disposed of, we may expect before Whitsun
tide to see some very sharp discussion about
conscience clauses, time-tables, and all the rest of it. The
discussion will be all the more lively if it should turn out,
as is generally believed, that the Royal Commissioners on
Primary Education in Ireland have decided in favour of
denominational teaching.
Mr. Newdegate's Committee (if I may call by his name
a committee which he will scarcely care to recognise) has
been sitting, and has chosen Mr. Villiers for its chair-
man, a very respectable old Whig official who has
done good service in his time, but is somewhat
too passe for these advanced times. The
committee are in doubt as to whether they should have
open sittings, and whether they should permit counsel to
appear on behalf of any persons who may be affected by
the inquiry. The matter has been referred to Mr. Rickards.
the Speaker's counsel.

The Government are very uneasy just now about
what the French would call the recrudescence of Fenianism.
There is no doubt that a large number of Feniarks are in
LOndon, and also in Brighton and Sheffield, and that they
have received numerous consignments of firearms during
the last few weeks. Many of these consignments are known
to the police, and the chief railway termini have been
haunted by detectives ; but the Fenians have dis-
covered that they are being watched, and so they have
ceased to frequent the principal stations, and alight at
others a little way out of London. No doubt these
men are closely allied with the revolutionists from the
continent who are now over here. A little while ago a
large number of revolutionary leaders from all parts of
Europe met in London. The meeting was presided over
by a French journalist much wanted by the
police. The Secretary was an Italian Priegt,
and a great friend of Marshal Prim. One
of the speakers was very merry at the expense of the
police, who supposed him to be in New York when he
was plotting within a street or two of Scotland-yard, and
it was generally admitted that England was a capital
place for revolutionists to carry on their business.
Then followed a discussion as to the best place
for a rising. Every place seemed to be the best,
and the sanguine not to say sanguinary speakers, spoke
hopefully of hoisting the Red flag throughout the whole
Continent next autumn, Switzerland being the basis of
operations. England, it was said, was fast becoming con-
verted to Republicanism, a crown being too expensive a
luxury for that pauperised country to afford it any
longer. Ireland is to be a Republic before Christmas.
Some speaker suggested that the British troops might be
tQo strong for the " bhoys," but the reply was that the
working classes in England meant to rise, and would
occupy all the attention of the troops. As for the Czar of
Russia, he is on a powder magazine. So we shall be having
a lively time of it during the long vacation.
The London tradesmen do not like co-operation, but for
all that it is spreading. Some of them are wise enough
to recognise the soundness of the principle that persons
who -pay ready money ought not to be taxed for the benefit
of those who take long credit, or who do not pay at all,
and they are consenting to aid the movement by allowing
discount to the members of the Co-operative
Societies. A new store is just about to be opened
close to Regent Circus, Oxford-street, by the
Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operative Asso-
ciation. This society, as its name implies, was origi-
nally started to deal in agricultural stock, &c. Its pri-
mary object was to supply its members with unadul-
terated manures and implements without the heavy addi-
tion of the travellers' commission. The implement makers
were very unfriendly to the scheme, and for some time it
was difficult to enter into satisfactory relations with
them. Manures were more easilv obtained, and as these
were always tested by the soci,..ty's chemist, they soon
became popular. The number of members in this asso-
ciation has rapidly increased, and already—that is to say,
in about three years—profits have been paid equal to the
original capital. In April, 1869, the total sales of goods
for the month were £2,212 ; the' gross profits, £245 ; the
expenses, £111; and the nett gain, £135. In April, 1870, the
figures were 25,336, £602, 2116, and £485. So that while the
profits have more than trebled the expenses have increased
only about 4 per cent. The association has now extended
its operations, and become a general co-operative society,
supplying all kinds of domestic goods, furniture, groceries,
meat, &c. Any one may become a member on paying
£l. Five per cent. is paid upon the members' capital,
a lower price than ,the ordinary price to the public is
charged for the goods, and the profits of the business are
divided among the members. Recently the as-
sociation has undertaken the London agency for
Messrs. Briggs, the well known chiefs of the partnership
of industry colliery. This business has been wonderfully
successful, and whereas before the principle of co-opera-
tion was adopted the proprietors were earning only 4 per
cent. upon their capital, they now make nearly 30 per cent.
The Agricultural and Horticultural Association has
an office in Parliament-street, almost close to
the House of Commons. It has three M.P.'s
among its nine directors—Mr. Cowper-Temple,
Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Morrison. The last being
a West-country member, and well acquainted
with-the Cornish motto " One and all," has adopted it as
the motto of this association The managing director is
Mr. E. 0. Greening,. who was one of the originators of
industrial partnerships.
The Working Men's Club and Institute Union contem-
plate building a memorial hall in honour of the late Lord
Brougham. The hall would be in a central situation
and joint occupation would be permitted to associations
haying for their object "the reform of the law, the pro-
motion of education, the advancement of knowledge, and
the general welfare of the people." Each association will
have exclusive occupation of the minimum accommodation
required for their ordinary office work, with the means of
obtaining, under the same roof, any amount of additional
accommodation required for special occasions. The Earl
of Lichfield, Mr. Auberon Herbert, M.P., Mr. Titus
Salt, Sir Henry Hoare, Dr. Hodgson, and other well-
known gentlemen are among the promoters of the design,
Our Home Secretary is really a Minister sui generis.
Not only can he see no reason to interfere in behalf of a
man suffering imprisonment for a theft which since his
conviction it is proved he never committed, but he has
chosen the Derby Day, of all days in the year, for ordering
all cabs in the metropolis to submit to inspection.
Now on inspection days the cabs have necessarily to be
absent from their ranks for a considerable time in order
that they may undergo the criticisms of Colonel Hender-
son and the Commissioners of Police in Scotland-yard.
This is always a nuisance for the cab-proprietors and the
cab-drivers, even on ordinary days ; but to compel them
to incur this loss on the day when they have the best
chance of making large profits will convert every cab-
man, two-wheelers as well as four-wheelers, into a
" growler."
The London Free and Open Church Association is one
of those few societies which includes members of all
parties in the Church. It has among its vice presidents
nearly a score of peers, and nearly fifty members of the
House of Commons. Strange to say, only four bishops
are in the list, and of these only one--the Bishop of
Peterborough—is bishop of an English See. The others
are the Bishops of Derry, in Ireland, Cape Town in the
colonies, and Tennessee in the United States.
Some of the Church papers have been publishing a
biography of a very aged Yorkshire clergyman, Mr.
Collins of Knaresborough. It is generally known that
his eldest son (" long Tom" as he is called in the House of
Commons) was formerly member for Knaresborough, and
is now M.P., for Boston ; but it is not so well known that
another son, Henry, is not only a " 'Vert " but a mem-
ber of a Cistercian monastery in Yorkshire. He is the
author of a very interesting volume on the first establish-
ment of that order in England.
A letter from St. Petersburg tells me that the Czarevna
—better known to Englishmen as the Princess Dagmar—
is cruelly cut up by the death of her little son. She is,
in fact, inconsolable, and though every preparation had
been made to take her to the palace at Tsarkoe-Selo she
refused to be separated from the corpse of her child