The Henson Journals

[21]

Friday, May 4th, 1928.

Ellen and I motored to Durham where I presided at the annual meeting of the Preventive & Rescue Association. I took the opportunity of letting Miss Maude, the Organizing Secretary, understand that her essays in teaching purity to men must cease, & that she must confine her activities to her own sex. She evidently resented this, & may resign, a decision which I should not greatly regret. Ella and I lunched together in the Castle, & then parted, she returning to Auckland, & I going to Newcastle, where I attended a meeting of the Durham Castle Preservation Fund. After all our efforts we have raised no more than £14,000!

I returned to Auckland to find that Caröe had arrived. He had already been inspecting the buildings, and, after dinner, he proposed to me that he should recommend the Ecclesiastical Commission to undertake responsibility for dilapidations on the Chapel, Entrance Gate, Tower and Screen, together with the containing walls of the garden. He would also recommend the pulling down of the stables, which are unused, and, for that reason, dilapidating the more readily. I am willing enough to assent to the first, but to the proposed demolition of the stables, I feel no slight hesitation.