The Henson Journals

[113]

Friday, January 4th, 1924.

I must have contracted a chill yesterday, when sitting outside during the drive to & from High Force. Anyway, I spent most part of the day in bed, and should have spent the whole, had I not been pledged to receive Sir Alfred Palmer here on unpleasant business. He arrived during the afternoon, and certainly his business was most unpleasant. A curate has been stealing money to the amount of over £700 from his friend a colliery official, charged with the payment of the miners. The man has confessed his crime, so that the only problem is what to do with him. My first impression is that he should be prosecuted like any other offender, but this course is evidently repugnant to the Company. It is open to two objections – the public scandal, and the loss of the money, which would fall on the unfortunate official. But if I cancel the man's licence, & report him to the Archbishop, there is not much likelihood that he will refund the money, since he will find himself suddenly penniless & workless. And there is always the possibility, perhaps the probability, that the matter will leak out, and the impression get abroad that the course of justice has been deflected because the offender was a clergyman. It is not possible to take a lenient view of the offence, since it is aggravated by so many circumstances. The man is married, but said to be childless. His wife is said to be a "nice girl from the district".