The Canadian Way
Page 22
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THE militant Canadian Trucking Association has served a writ upon the state-owned Canadian National Railways to seek a court declaration that its attempts to acquire three road transport companies are outside the terms and conditions of the C.N.R. letters patent. Affidavits have been filed not only by the employers but by their employees too. Behind the lines, though, there is great internal uncertainty. Those operators who really believe in the maintenance of the principles of free enterprise are right behind their associations but, just as in this country and elsewhere, the voices of the bandwagon jumpers say one thing but hope for quite another.
The C.T.A. is a splendid, lively, vigilant body but,it has its internal problems. Oddly enough, an English road transport operator now domiciled across the Atlantic sees the situation as English historY repeating itself.
As I am constantly being reminded by a well-known Northern operator . . . whose language I would prefer to use but cannot . . it takes a very big man to be a little man and remain one.
Words and Punctuation
THE usefulness of a fourteen-year-old B licence has shrunk with the passing of time. It is held by a Polish war veteran and the conditions read: "Goods for the Polish Combatants' Association and ex-students of training courses arranged by the Polish Air Force, within 10 miles." It is hard to believe that such a condition could be acceptable to a Licensing Authority, for it is barely comprehensible and utterly impractical for enforcement purposes. Little wonder a16
the licensee finds it unrealistic . . . having to inquire of a potential customer whether or not he is an ex-student of a Polish Air Force rehabilitation course sounds like a bureaucratic joke in a music hall . . . and even less wonder that he would prefer to lose the licence altogether rather than be forced to put up with it. Mr. D. J. R. Muir, the Metropolitan Licensing Authority, recognized the incongruity and recommended a little advice.
Meaning of a Comma
• ONTRARIWISE, a comma can be as meaningful, it seems, as the words themselves. For example: "Building materials and rubbish caused by the licensee in his capacity as a
demolition contractor" seems straightforward enough . . Until the licensee says that he interprets the condition as if there was a comma after "building materials". . grammatically and constructionally offensive no doubt but very much more hire and rewarding. Words and word separators are slippery licensing tools.
Is Cream Best?
rr HE new Rochdale bus livery of cream, relieved only by a
▪ single band of blue, compares well with the styles used by many other bus operators nowadays. I shall, however, regret the passing of the previous blue and cream colour scherne, which must surely, be one of the most attractive in the country, although doubtless too elaborate for spray painting. It is noteworthy that the cream buses look appreciably dirtier on a wet day. than the blue. ones. I wonder whether it would not be more practical and, to some eyes at least, more attractive to restore the blue to the lower panels.