[174] It should be stated that the supervised playground movement had been developing in Halifax for a period of fourteen years, first under the Women's Council, afterwards under a regularly incorporated association with which the Women's Council merged. [175] In view of the explosion and the resulting housing conditions, an increase in juvenile delinquency might have been expected, but the "playgrounds which were established immediately after the disaster, and which adjoined both of the large temporary housing projects, are, it is felt, responsible for the excellent conditions which exist. The records of the Superintendent of Neglected and Delinquent Children show that there was an actual decrease in the number of juvenile arrests in 1918 over 1917."--(Leland, Arthur, "Recreation as a Part of the City Plan for Halifax, N. S., Canada," _Playground_, vol. xiii, no. 10, p. 493.) Progress in cooperation has also to be noticed. There has been a new sense of unity in dealing with common problems. The number of things which perforce had to be done together during the catastrophe was great. This doing of things together will be continued. The establishment of the Halifax Cooperative Society is initial evidence of a movement towards cooperative buying. Cooperation for community ends even now is revealing itself in the new interest for the common control of recreation, health conditions, _etc._ "The disaster," runs an article in the press, "has given our social movement an impetus. The social workers of the different creeds and classes have discovered each other and are getting together."[176] The organization of social service which only a few years back took a beginning in the form of an unpretentious bureau has shot ahead with amazing rapidity and now exercises an influence of coordination upon the churches, charities and philanthropic societies of the city. [176] Halifax _Evening Mail_, March 22, 1918. The unifying process is well illustrated by the increased cooperation upon the part of the churches. Following the disaster the churches of the city united into a single organization for relief service under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Nova Scotia. Since then a Ministerial Association has been formed which has directed cooperative effort along various lines and has exercised pressure upon those in authority where the best interests of the city were involved.