The Henson Journals
Thu 7 August 1930
Volume 50, Pages 202 to 203
[202]
Thursday, August 7th, 1930.
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An excited letter from the Bishop of Ripon confirms the suspicion which had formed itself in my mind about the origin of yesterday's telegram viz: that he himself was the author of it. He says, indeed, that Bradford was actually sending the telegram, 'concocted by several of us who share acutely in the very general consternation produced by the President's ruling (at the request of a majority in the metropolitans) that Resolution 24 on the "Unity" (dealing with Intercommunion) may be reconsidered by the Conference, although it was passed by a very large majority last Friday, & formed part of a very carefully balanced series'. Ripon and Bradford are thorough–going Evangelical partisans, and also in my judgement, two of the unarisest and least considerable members of the Conference. "One or two, like Madras, don't seem to think it so very serious: Dornakal feels it cuts at the root of "South India"". On the whole, I think Madras is probably right. The matter is not really of much importance for, if Resolution 24 were deleted, the acceptance of the S. Indian scheme would stand out the more prominently.
[203]
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While the Bishops excite themselves with wordy conflict at Lambeth, the nation's affairs are going from bad to worse. This morning's papers announce that the number of the unemployed now exceeds 2,000,000. The drought in U.S.A. is said to have ruined the wheat crop, so that the price of bread is likely to rise in England during the winter, which is now approaching.
I walked round the Park after lunch. There were many lads from the Unemployed Training Centre, (as many as 300, the Superintendent told me) who were having some kind of sports. There are no less than 700 at the Centre, all between 14 and 18. I asked him whether they showed signs of being underfed: & he replied that the boys under 16, who are ineligible for the dole, did so: but not the elder boys. Very few would emigrate: and there was a great disinclination to return to the mines. I asked whether he had any difficulty in keeping discipline, & he replied he that he had little trouble. Perhaps this submission of these lads is the most cogent proof of their being underfed: and certainly they look as if they hadn't enough to eat.