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20 to note that the great coal-field is, for the most part, inside the border of eleven parishes. In 1801 there were eleven churches and eleven clergy. Those parishes have now multiplied into forty-five, and the clergy who minister in them are not less than one hundred. The churches and mission-rooms number 148 or thereabouts. That gives you some idea of the growth of the population on the one hand, and the needs that population represent, together with the efforts that have been made to supply them, on the other.

“In some Dioceses difficulty has been experienced in obtaining the requisite number of clergy. Does that apply to Llandaff?”

The Bishop reflected. “No,” he said, after a pause. “The difficulty is not so acute in Llandaff as in many Dioceses. For instance, next week I shall hold the September ordination, and I shall have no less than forty-four candidates—the largest number that has ever been ordained in this Diocese.”

“Since you have been at Llandaff you have shown yourself not unwilling to admit to ordination erstwhile Nonconformist ministers who have communicated their desire and proved their fitness for admission to the Church?”

“Oh, yes; I may say that since I have been here I have received certainly not less than eighty