ABILITY NEEDED

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 132, 2 December 1930, Page 19

ABILITY NEEDED

CANADIAN RAILWAYS

ALARM FELT AT NEW BOARD

V'OLITICAL INTEIU'EITEXCE

There are some ppmted comuicnts on the relaiionsbip. between, railwiiys and jtoliticsiiia recent issue of the ''Mtiiii-; toba iVeo-Press, "following a decision of the; new ■'CouservaUve .Government to call foiv.thb'-'iesign'ations of the 'Government nominees of tlic Cauadiaii National Eailways Board./ ■.':,: "Tho iboniiniou Government, in calling for the resignation of the Govera-niient-appointecl./:directors :, of the Canadian.-. National Railway, cau--point" to the preccdont' set by the preceding . admiiistration; • aiid they van invoke the sarno precedent if., they appoint, to tho board -their ovm political frioncls,". Bays the '"'Free Press.". "The course followed by the King ; Govei;Jimei],t in relation to tlie directorate of. the CauacliaiT National was subjected: to sharp criticism in .these columns, as our readers.may;recall. Wo thought it to-'. grcttable that a .clean sweep was made in 1022 of the oH board, wli'iehincludecl some mcii of the highest character and ability; and we objected to the obviously political character of many of the/ appointments to the board.. That 116. ill.j j-esultsjfollowed was due to the correct J policy'which the : Government itself! followed in its'relations .with the railway. The King Government undoubtedly showed a party bias in making these appointments; and if it had followed this up'by trying to exercise a control over the policy of the road through these appointees, the results would hiive^ been very serious. Fortunately the Government kept its hands off, and Sir Henry Thornton ..'tiicl his politicallyappoiii.tea,;l)oard got along very well .to-.' getherii;;;Between thorn they rendered this country services, of very /great yalue. ; ' ■■; .'.' ;.:.- ""]■■, . v.;■■/:' :' "PLTJMS TOR rAIXHFUL." "The present Government, having committed itself. to the reconstruction of the boardj.must now decide whether or not these positions are to bo regarded as plums • for'the-faithful. The pressure to have these appointments re- '■ garded :as '.party, patronage.is severe, ■: if- --aif-Ottawa correspondent of- the 1 'Mail and Empire 3 is correctly informed. He writes: 1 "'Applications for places on the C.N.E. directorate, a body limited by law to 15 members, have run into tlie ' hundreds, it is reported, .since word got around that the Bennett Administration proposed a reorganisation. A director- ' ship is worth 2000 dollars a year, and : t tarries with'it the not inconsiderable perquisite of -free transportation and an odd private car. Some of the appli- , cations have Tjeen rec'eivGd- from the 1 fipplieants themselves. The majority, however, are tendered' by the time- ; honoured political method of a third ' party. Members of the Cabinet have • toeea-rbesicgedr-by people, 'Avho, loudly , professing to have only the public in"terest at heart, feel bound to bring the "Government's attention to, the indispensable qualifications of. so-and-so, a .rfriend of theirs. But it.doesn't take a - pabinet Minister long to scent such logi rolling from afar.' OFFICE SEEKERS. ! j "This drive of the job-hunters for 'positions as directors of the nationally- •?- owned railwaysystem is alarming even ; the 'Montssal Gazette,' which lias not ■hitherto-displayed any-particular iii- : ; twesi in tHe "i ortxmes of the road. It, ■'■'•"■ cui«esi aa empliatie protest-against sur-; ; leiidw by ;tho .(Jovernmcnf.tb. tliesq. deW ,• jtnaiids:^- ''''f : . ■'■'','■'■■''' ''.''--^-^ '). " ' : Certamly/ the . direetbrate of tlie '. Canadian • National •: -{Railway.11 Should, »ever be regarded as a goal for political office-seekers, nor should appointments to the board bo regarded by the Government as rewards for party sorTrice. The. positions are too big, the . responsibilities too great, and the pos- [. SibleTconsequeuces of mistaken policies /much1 too serious.' , ; "This discouragement of the view ,f^hat these--'positions should be given.l as j 'iewai-ds.gto/Tparty workers by news- , papers aifeclose--to- tho • Government as . t,he :';Gazette J/. r£md the 'Mail and Em- . ipire'j is ;-a,i:.partial, assurance that: the ' new ! directors .will; bo men of sub-.-stance .'and-;capacity. This iv itself, ■ howevei'j' is;.:ji6t';a. /sufficient guarantee that ;the'Linte.i;estS:oi-ithe publicly-owned •• xoadiwill.be-safe in'the hands of the new board. men imbued with ■.hostility to "the;idea of public owuer- • ship and .operation of railways would .''not be suitable members of the ; .Canadian National Board. Tho abler ' they are' the greater the disqualiflca- .. tion.. The Government might appoint a, board which-would measure up to - every test of suitability and capacity, except the supreme test of friendliness ' to the railway itself and the j>urposes 1 which it is supposed to serve. A STEP-MOTHBK? { : "It is undeniable that there is an ' uneasy feeling abroad that the new ' Government is likely to be only a -st-ep-i mc'ther to the Canadian National rail- • way. Nothing that tho Government has I done, nothing-that, any member of the Governmerit has said, gives support to this suspicion; but it persists neverthe-' less. It arises from the general knowledge that most of the known, open, and avowed enemies of the Canadian National and everything it stands for are members —some of thorn very active and influential members—of the Conservative Party; and it has been strengthened by hints in newspapers, friendly ■to the Government, that the time has feome to have tin outside control over i*he railway exercised to the end that policies of which they disapprove, may ; jje discouraged. : "The country needs, for the ■ direc- , jtorate oi:. the Canadian National, a board of .able men—but they must be Jbuildcrsj not wreckers." -.