Haro raham White
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VISITING this country a few weeks ago was 51-yearold Harold Graham White, a transport personality who may reasonably be described as a Canadian from Yorkshire—and a forceful one at that.
Mr. White is president of the Hanson Transport Co., Ltd., of Hamilton, Ontario. Added to this he is president of the Automotive Transport Association of Ontario (Inc.), which represents the road transport industry for the province. He is immediate past-president of the Transportation Safety Association of Ontario, an official body aimed at reducing the number of accidents in the trucking and allied industries, and is also vice-chairman of the Motor Transport industrial Relations Bureau, the Ontario employers' association which negotiates union contracts.
Furthermore, Mr. White is secretary to an organization particularly dear to his heart, the Automotive Transport Association Trucking Industry Educational Foundation. Currently this body raises. around 35,000 dollars a year which is used to assist necessitous students, either directly or through the universities, These substantial funds are accumulated as a result of the road transport operators refraining from following their former custom of giving Christmas gifts to their customers, the money so saved being put to the credit of the Foundation.
After education in Halifax, Yorkshire, Harold White left school at the age of 15 to become an articled pupil to an auctioneer and he passed the associate examinations of the Incorporated Society of Auctioneers and Landed Property Agents. There was haulage in the family veins, however, for prior to Harold's birth his father, Mr. Harry White, ran a cartage business in Halifax and this, incidentally, is still operated by his mother. Nevertheless, young White followed the auctioneering trail for seven years then, early in 1933, he was interviewed by Mr. Charles Holdsworth, Mr. Donald Hanson and Mr. William Burrill to ascertain whether he would like to enter their group and learn the haulage business.
His first position was with I. W. Holdsworth, Ltd., in Halifax, but later. he transferred to Holdsworth and Burrill, Bradford, where he stayed for six months. And he found haulage was the life for him. When a vacancy occurred for an assistant manager at Holdsworth and Hanson (Hull), Ltd., Harold was given the job. His sessions at these three depots brought him initiation into all the practical aspects of the haulage industry. After Hanson and Holdsworth had_purchased a bankrupt business in Birmingham late in 1934 he was transferred there as manager. During his stay in the Midlands the group acquired Bouts-Tillotson Transport, an extensive organization with depots throughout Great Britain. Then, following on the take-over of a Scottish haulage business, his principals moved him north of the Border to take charge of operations based on Glasgow, Leith and Kirkcaldy. After 13 years in Scotland he returned to Halifax in 1948 as district manager of the West Riding D.strict, British Road Services, North Eastern Division.
However, by the autumn of the next year Mr. James Hanson had offered White a new job which led to his departure for Canada. Following upon nationalization of most of the Hanson interests in Britain Mr. James had taken over Crawford Cartage, Ltd., in Hamilton, Ontario, and in due time this was renamed the Hanson Transport Co, Ltd. Starting with this fleet as a basis, the Hanson enterprise for which Harold White became responsible steadily grew and during the 1955-59 period four other businesses were acquired. The last purchase was an American operation" which gives the company the right to " inter-line with nearly all the American carriers running from various points in the U.S. to Buffalo in New York State.
He tells me he feels the 50-55 m.p.h. permitted to commercial vehicles in Canada is within reason provided the highways are good. although he would not care to see any increase on this figure. In nearly all cases a driver will work single-handed although he may be in charge of a tractor and two semi-trailers or alternatively a lorry and trailer. For the real long distances sleeper cabs are quite common and with double-manning the unit will never stop except for meals and refuelling.
Harold White reckons the most popular combination in Canada is the single rear-axle tractor with a tandem axle semi-trailer, for the weight limit on this combination is 60,000 lb, gross. In most Canadian provinces, incidentally, overloading is checked because the provincial governments have permanent weighbridges on every major highway and at certain times (never known beforehand) every vehicle must pass over a weighbridge.
Different provincial governments, through their transport departments, are, I gather, doing their best to bring about uniformity for road transport in the matter of length, height and weight limits, all of which will eliminate many of the present-day headaches. There is also a move towards complete reciprocity regarding registration and licence fees. In so far as an application must prove "necessity and convenience," licensing conditions are in some ways similar to Britain, but the big difference in the Canadian system is that the operator is virtually licensed to a route and so does not have the same freedom of movement. However, once the licence is granted the haulier can increase his fleet as and when he desires. What is known as purely local or cartage work can be carried on in the province of Ontario without the need for a haulier's licence.
Both Harold White and Mrs. White are enthusiastic participants in curling which they enjoy during the winter months. He tells me that for him life in Canada is fine and, apart from occasional visits to Great Britain, he has no great desire to return. In fact all the family, which includes two daughters and a son, love the Canadian way of life.
The situation sounds so enticing that it was natural to ask what are the prospects for emigration. Mr. White has several employees in both administrative and operational departments who have gone out from Britain, but he feels that with employment a little " soft " in Canada at the moment, this would not be a good time to recommend others to follow their steps. And this apart from the fact that people who have lived in the area for long years are just naturally the more qualified for road transport work, since the man who knows his way around Ontario is clearly a better proposition as an employee than a newcomer who has to learn the territory as well as the customs That is the frank advice of a man who in 13 years has made his way to the top in Ontario haulage. A.T.