IMPORTED TALENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15613, 20 May 1914, Page 9

IMPORTED TALENT.

AMERICAN PREFERRED.

ANGRY RAILWAY V: V CLERKS.

PROTEST BY ; CONFERENCE

Times and Sydney Sun Services.

(Received May 19, 6 p.m.)

' . London, May 19. . A conference of railway clerks representing 29,000 members met in Edinburgh yesterday and protested against the action of Lord Claud Hamilton in importing an American manager, Mr. Thornton, for the Great Eastern Railway Company. The conference condemned what it called nepotism and favouritism of a close departmental system wi.ich prevented clerks' promotion, and advocated public ownership of the land, mines, railways, and ! other monopolies.

APPOINTMENT CRITICISED.

BRITAIN .DEEPLY WOUNDED.

Considerable excitement was occasioned in the United Kingdom in February, when Lord C. Hamilton announced the appointment of Mr. Henry W. Thornton, general superintendent of the Long Island Railroad, to succeed Mr. Walter Hyde as general manager of the Great Eastern Railway. The reasons adduced by Lord Hamilton for tfie step were sharply criticised, and it is evident that he wounded the amour propro of his fellowcountrymen. In his speech to the shareholders Lord Claud Hamilton said that on the English railway system at the present time there was an' acknowledged dearth of first-class men coming to the front, capable of fulfilling tho duties of general manager. But it was not confined to the office of the general manager. Thore was a dearth of first-rate men coming to the front for even the minor appointments in the great railways. He was sure there were as many able young men as there ever were in the ranks of the railway.companies. Why did they not come to the front?' All the British railway systems were' divided in what he would call watertight compartments. Tho inevitable effect of that was to remove on the part of those young men any incentive to new ideas and to new methods. There was another reason, and that was tho question of seniority versus merit. He was afraid there had grown up a tendency to sacrifice merit at the expense of seniority.

Mr. Thornton's Career. Mr. Thornton, who has already taken up his duties, is 42 years of age. He entered the service of the Pennsylvania railroad 20 years ago, after taking bis degree at Pennsylvania University. In the various positions which he has occupied during his long service with the company ho has taken -■■ part : in • the' great development of the system which operates the heaviest suburban traffic in the United States. He is both a practical engineer and an expert ;on transport- questions. The" Great Eastern Railway deals with the heaviest suburban traffic of any British railway, and it will-be bound, as soon as the financial - situation . of the company makes it possible to face the cost, to convert to electric traction a large mileage :of suburban, lines. 'The appointment of Mr. Thornton is the outcome of the desire on the part of the board that the new general manager, whose predecessor is retiring on account of. ill-health, should be a man who is still young, and who has had experience cf handling a heavy traffic operated by electric traction. ..--'■■ Second to None. .

Among those' well acquainted with the working of railways on both sides, of the Atlantic there is no v disposition to underrate the ability of men of British origin and. training to cope with the most difficult problems of railway management. Great Britain's railway record proves sufficiently the ability of her own sons in-this field of activity. By common consent, there are no better railwaymen in the world than the general managers of Britain's great lines. Most of them have worked their way up from the bottom and have a thorough knowledge of the practical side of railway enterprise. They may not be superior to those engaged in the same work in the United States, and in many respects they have different problems to face; but competent judges declare that if American railway managers could teach many things to those upon tlw British side ofthe ocean, the converse is equally true. Everyone conversant with the history of American railroads is aware, of the very large part played by Englishmen and Scotsmen in their construction and management. All the early railroads of Canada" were the work of men of British origin. Sir William White, one of the directors of the Canadin Pacini: Company, began his railway life in a humble position on &' Scottish line. Mr. D. McNicoU/ general manager of the Canadian Pacific, is also of Scottish birth and railway experience. The Grand Trunk has many similar records, and in South America Mr. Charles H. Pearson, head of the. Central Argentine Railway, and Mr. A. F. Lockwood Thompson, manager of the (Brazil Great Southern, are both Englishmen. The Imperial railways of North China are. also under the general management of an Englishman, Mi-. I). P. Ricketts.