Statement "I Will Never Submit to My Country Being Put Into The
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263 Re-armed" he pointed to an urgent task - this was in 1950 - which was the prevention of any conniving at a continuation of German militarism. "It is not dead : it'will take a generation to get it out of the blood. Until then it is dangerous policy to encourage a revival of militarism in a people who have proved themselves more aggressive and vastly more efficient than Russia or any other European people". (4) In the same year Hunter referred to an over-riding political issue by quoting Archbishop C. F. Garbett, his much-esteemed metropolitan, 'Our party politics are the games of children playing on the sands compared with the... necessity of finding some agreement by which this ghastly threat to the human race (sc. the hydrogen bomb) can be removed. ' This can only be done, Hunter commented, "by an effective, realistic attempt once again to reach agreement with Russia". (5) He did not venture on any political theorising as to how agreement might be forthcoming. He could console himself with the thought that this was the -ý ölitician's task into which sphere the layman should not enter. Ten years later in the House of Lords Hunter spoke cogently in the_. debate on Disarmament and indicated underlying human factors which politicians ought to keep in mind. He supported the Archbishop of York (A. M. Ramsey) who had intervened earlier to say that "the right moral demand is... for disarmament by agreement" (6) and had listened to Viscount Alexander of Hillsborough's patriotic statement "I will never submit to my country being put into the unilateral position of being the only main Power that provides 264 no defence for the rights of its citizens". (7) Hunter's contribution was wisely perceptive and took the form, in fact, of a commentary on what Archbishop Ramsey had said. "One ought not to ease one's conscience by making some weapons more immoral than other, but to keep the peace now and to go on keeping it"; in democratic countries people should be told the truth : "the balance of terror is different from the balance of power; it can be more easily unbalanced by bad men". A defence mentality he continued "can so readily breed a fear mentality which can become (8) aggressive - who will strike first ?" Hunter's pragmatism always pointed to objectives which were of value for the immediate future and which, if realised, could become stepping stones to greater achievement. A succession of articles poured from Hunter's pen on proposals coming from central and local government. Their contents were indicative of the Christian humanism which motivated his concern for the welfare of people. In April 1946 he drew his readers attention to the National Health Service Bill which had recently been presented to Parliament. Recent surveys had revealed that, countrywise, "hospital and specialist services were unevenly distributed; there was little coordination and sometimes over- lapping of facilities which were often exiguous and occasionally inefficient". It was significant he went on to say that both the boards of voluntary hospitals and also the local authorities had done little to inform the public of the contents of the surveys. 265 As chairman of the Sheffield Hospital Council, Hunter regretted "the passing of the contributory schemes inevitable though it be; they have maintained the voluntary hospitals successfully... It was essential that pride of place should be given to gifted physicians and surgeons rather than to administrators;... they should be brought fully into consultations in the Central Committee, the Regional Boards and the governing bodies of the teaching hospitals and local management committees". Reorganisation there had to be; let it be done in stages. The National Health Service Bill, like its predecessor in 1944, the Education Bill, is seeking to do everything at once. (9) Hunter continued his consideration of the scheme in the House of Lords. (10) He welcomed the Bill; it ought not to be opposed even though "a comprehensive service means an end to the autonomy of voluntary hospitals. So long as the doctors and nurses give good service the hospitals will have the good will of the people". (11) Hunter could see the danger of the new service becoming hamstrung through the growth of bureaucratic administration; he was fearful, not without cause as union power was to develop in the hospitals, that the professional staffs would be impeded in their work. This may well have been one reason for the inadequate, as he believed, recognition of their excellence in the voluntary system which "might be more clearly articulated by the Minister". 266 Hunter's speech contained statements of fact; of commendation; of hoped for action. Of fact : "a poor man's chances of recovery from serious illness depends (sc. at that moment) where he lives". Of commendation : that in "another place the Bill had been amended to allow hospital boards sufficient freedom to do good without too much freedom to do nothing"; that the proposed services should be statutory - and free. Of hoped for action : statutory and voluntary services should be integrated; we should seek to preserve the very large voluntary funds for use "along special lines of health service" rather than allowing them to be absorbed into the large kitty-bag. Cooperation between the Church and the medical profession in the treatment of mental breakdown and nervous disorders was desirable; the causes were often "disintegrated personalities and purposeless lives". The Churches ought to be allowed to preserve and indeed own hospitals and homes on a religious basis and to form various communities of nursing sisters. Hunter's writing and speaking was based on knowledge arising out of experience and supported by a close study of the Bill. His last word was prophetic : "Beware of destroying initiative and flexibility by administrative regulations; the latter is jam to the totalitarian". , Closely following upon his general welcome of the concept of health national provision, and in a sense arising out of it, was 267 Hunter's advocacy of voluntary service for the benefit of the (12) The community. Its roots lay in his Tyneside experience. Church has, he wrote in 1949, "an intimate concern for voluntary action. The voluntary services of the country have a range and he variety which is unique in Europe". Drawing on history went on to say that in the nineteenth century the voluntary societies provided the bridge between feudalism (13) and a more egalitarian society by peaceful evolution; the fruit and principal impetus came from the Christian faith and its concept of duty to neighbour. (11)The preservation of this practical attitude was an important he matter : the Welfare State has "come to stay" but once again is underlined the dangers ahead : "the natural tendency towards totalitarian bureaucracy; voluntary service is the most effective corrective". (15) Such agencies, like the universities, should be grant-aided and without state control. Speaking in the Lords in June 1949 Hunter had stressed the need for grants channelled through the statutory services to be given to voluntary organisations with the particular object of "maintaining at a high level their administration and in seeing that their personnel are well-equipped". (16) He reinforced this demand by reminding the House that in social service "the Christian Church... has probably been the good cause by which all these other good causes have been fed in the past". (17) The Church at large - irrespective of particular allegiances - had reason to be grateful to Hunter for his reminders of the value to the nation of England's Christian heritage. (18) 268 With an irregular regularity the Bishop's Letter and from 1948 the Sheffield Diocesan Review contained articles by Hunter on matters of local interest and importance. In 1944 in an article on town planning he asked : "is it vain to plead with the local authorities to plan a neighbourhood unit for families of varying incomes and avocations ? Of such there was a conspicuous lack in Sheffield. (19) The clutter of narrow streets in Sheffield's east-end pointed to the need for road improvements which would provide "easy and ample planning for men and materials to industry". (20) Hunter went on to include the necessity for smoke abatement and also noise abatement caused by city traffic which a different texture of road surface would provide. Hunter's knowledge of the problems resulting from overcrowded houses is shown'in an article of February 1950 in which he wrote of "this growing social evil leading to unhappiness, broken marriages, mental and neural illness and crime; politicians are far too complacent and much too ready with excuses. There can be a will to overcome the bickering between councils and speculative builders; we ask for more and better housing". (21) Two years later,, and not escaping the charge of inconsistency, Hunter was criticising the Sheffield Housing Committee for planning to sacrifice green belt reservations for "immediate requirements". Food production is a priority - "we cannot afford to swallow up (22) agricultural land". He followed this up by criticising the Town Clerk for his statement that it was a matter of "views for the few or houses for the many". (23) A longer and broader view be taken, should Hunter said. Had this happened in the past in 269 Sheffield, the city would not be short of land now. No other country, Hunterinsisted, "is so spendthrift of farm land as we continue to be or so indulgent of housing authorities who prefer to spread outwards rather than to build upwards (24)... the housing shortage in Sheffield... cannot be met without the use of steel. It is intolerable that be ..