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BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 60
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Job n Watts Honoured That the celebration of a 55th birthday can be a forward-looking and a vital affair was demonstrated last Saturday when this milestone in the life of John Hylton Watts was officially commemorated at a luncheon given in his honour by the Lydney Recognition Committee at the town hall, Lydney, Glos. Mr. Watts is the chairman of 99 p.s.v. and haulage companies covering business interests in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Rhodesia, South Africa, Swaziland, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as well as the UK and the Channel islands, and is the elder brother of Mr: Arthur Watts, chairman of the holding company of Watts enterprises, Watts of Lydney Ltd.
Many telegrams of congratulation from overseas companies, read out at the luncheon, added poignancy to the tributes paid to Mr: Watts by Viscount Bledisloe and the Duke of Beaufort for his sustained and magnanimous interest in local institutions, clubs and charities. "We are sending you a zebra skin ", said a telegram from Nairobi. "It should have been a lion's skin, but we need the lions for the tourists." Yes, indeed, it should have been a lion's skin.
Down the Drain You just can't win ", was
thet jocular comment of Frank Lemass, retiring president of the Institute of Transport at its conference at New College, Oxford, last week-end. It was occasioned by the brilliant manner Walter Woodford, secretary, Institution of Production Engineers, demolished questioners' doubts as to the benefits to be derived from automation—" a great spill-over then for the asking ".
Some delegates thought there was a snag somewhere— merely resistance to change was the rejoinder.
Buses to Church The thoughts of many people
in the passenger transport world were focused on Blackburn Cathedral the Sunday before last on the occasion of an ordination service. One of the candidates was John Senior, who two years ago, at the age of 40, resigned from the position of assistant general manager to Ribble.Motor Services Ltd. in order to train for the Church of England ministry. Since then he has studied at a theological college in Edinburgh. The Rev. John Senior (as he now is) has a wide circle of friends in both company and municipal undertakings, as before he moved to Ribble he was general manager of Burnley. Colne and Nelson Joint
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Transport Committee. He has joined the staff of a church at Marton, Blackpool.
Thus, after being in the upper brackets of the passenger transport world, Mr. Senior has taken his place on the lower rungs of the Church ladder, It is a sobering thought that a curate's stipend in the diocese of Blackburn is in the order of £650 a year.
Very Cut Up Data processing has been brought to a fine art at Ribble Motor Services Ltd.— thousands of statistics that formerly involved laborious calculations are now produced at the touch of a button. Ribble's tame computer tells them pretty sharply if a vehicle oversteps its allotted mileage before a major dock. The natural tendency is to mechanize all you can, but not every figure at Preston needs the processing treatment,
Whilst in the trimming shop at the Ribble headquarters -last week I asked the chief engineer, Mr. H. Tennant, if they had much trouble from vandals. Like a shot came the answer: "About 150 repairs of seat slashing,s in a peak month." Apparently not all of this exasperating activity is utterly pointless. In one case investigators unearthed the fact that enterprising youths attending handicraft classes found seat coverings an appropriate material for their practical work!
It's Dick Now For some considerable time
the important post of Head of Road Transport Division at the Ministry of Transport has been very ably held by John Moore, who has become well-known to both goods and passenger operators by attending their conferences. But that is now changed. John has moved to the Staffing Division and his successor at R.T. Division is Dick Madge, who impressed many people by his control of Ministry matters relating to the Common Market—particularly at that tricky period when Britain was negotiating for entry.
John Moore is perhaps best known for his work as secretary to the Geddes Committee; the essential readability of that report is a tribute to his ability as secretary.
We wish both John and Dick good luck.