Bird's Eye View
Page 53
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The Young Idea
By The Hawk
I T is good to see young men following in their fathers' foot steps in transport and taking an active interest in Association work. One of them is Mr. D. R. Miers, son of Mr. R. 13: Miers, who has done so much for milk hauliers in negotiations with the Milk Marketing Board and. in other ways.. . _ Although in his early twenties, Mr. D. R, Miers was one of the bright lights at the Road Haulage Association's Conference last week. His name was attached to three resolutions and he spoke with clarity and confidence, He was one of the few delegates to think out clearly in advance what he wanted to say and then to reduce it to essentials on a typewritten sheet. Could his father be blamed for beaming with pride? • Young Mr. Miers is a man to watch in the R.H.A.
Following Father
A NOTHER young man who has gone into his father's rA haulage business is Mr. M. R. Brittain. Mr. R. B. Brittain introduced his son into R.H.A. affairs at last year's conference at Harrogate. I-le was unable to attend last week's conference at Bournemouth, as he has been recalled as a reservist to the Royal Army Service Corps and is at eeesent on the headquarters staff at Colchester.
After he had completed his national service last November he spent three months with F. Perkins, Ltd., and three months with A. Packham and Co. Then father sent his son an urgent call to join the family business to help out in a time of stress, but the Army soon reclaimed him. I hope the disturbance to Essex Carriers, Ltd., has been justified.
The Black Hole
ATTENDING the Bournemouth conference, I hooked in at a leading hotel. I was handed a slip informing me that the charge was 42s. 6d. a day (including baths) and was shown to a cupboard numbered 239X. The " X " Was highly significant.
Inside was a notice. "Do not disturb me." This was presumably in case I died of asphyxiation during the night, as the room had no windows and the only entry for air was through two fanlights in the glass roof. I was later told that it was really a chauffeur's room. But even chauffeurs are entitled to breathe and see.
I wonder what impression this kind of accommodation has on overseas visitors, whom Britain is trying so hard to attract? But perhaps it is reserved exclusively for home use. The only person in Britain who doesn't matter nowadays is a Briton.
Calling a Spade
MEETING Mr. Henry Ford II at the Motor Show dinner recalled an incident many years ago, when a colleague was invited to see Mr. Edsel Ford dig the first sod for the Ford Dagenham works. A few days before the event a paragraph, "One hears—What Edsel Ford called the spade," was written. At the ceremony the ground was rather hard and the blade of the little silver spade doubled up. Thus The Commercial Motor established a fleeting reputation as a prophet. When a colleague recalled this incident to Mr. Henry Ford H, he remarked: " But don't you remember the little boy who was standing near? That was mel "
Whose Cheque Book ?
NAR. BASIL ROGERS, secretary of the Roads Campaign iV1 Council, is nothing if not forthright. He has accused the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Minister of Transport, in quoting impressive figures of road expenditure as evidence of the Government's good intentions, of flashing somebody else's cheque hook, He also questioned the application of the money. Of £350m. claimed as being spent on the present road programme, he said, some £180m. came from the pockets of local ratepayers for the upkeep of existing wads. The central Government provided £90m. Of the remaining affm. authorized for road modernization since 1954, only £381m. had been spent. In using misleading figures, Sir Anthony Eden, Mr. Harold Macmillan and Mr. Harold Watkinson had been taking Britain's 61m. drivers for a ride.
Examining the state of my bank account, I think it must have been my cheque hook they have been usiMg.