RAILWAY PRESIDENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21240, 21 July 1932, Page 9

RAILWAY PRESIDENT

RESIGNATION TENDERED CRITICISM IN CANADA OTTAWA. July 19 Sir Henry Thornton has resigned the position of president of the Canadian National Railways. Mr. S. J. Hungerford, vice-president, will be acting president.

The Minister of Railways, Mr. R. J. Manion, confirmed Sir Henry's resignation, stating that it had been accepted by the board of directors and the Government. In a letter written to Mr. Manion, Sir Henry said: "In my opinjon, a publiclyowned railway can only be successfully directed if the management has the complete confidence of the owners of the property. The public criticism to which I have referred indicates that such confidence is at least not general, and in this period of financial depression, and in view of the further fact that a Royal Commission is investigating the whole railway situation of the country, I feel I should tender my resignation."

Sir Henry Thornton formerly was general manager of the Great Western Railway, England. He arrived in Canada in 1922 a total stranger. To-day his figure is as well known in the homely cabin of the Peace River settler as in the busy banking centres of the East. He has shown a real capacity for leadership. When in 1922 he took charge of a network of railway systems scattered over the face of Canada, he reorganised them along practical lines and co-ordinated their component parts into what is to-day one of the world's finest systems./ _ Born at Loganport, Indiana, in 1871, he was educated at Concord and Pennsylvania University. He entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railway and rose by way of its engineering branch to be superintendent of the Long Island Railway. His appointment in 1914 as general manager of the Great Western Railway caused much comment. During the war ho rose from Assistant to Deputy Direc-tor-General of Movements and Railways with the rank of brigadier-general. In 1919 he was knighted and made InspectorGeneral of Transportation with the rank of major-general —a_ post he _res sgned 5 gned in 1922 on being appointed president of the Canadian National Railways and chairman of its board. In September, 1929, his salary was raised to £15,000. His scheme for co-operation between the management and the men on his railways led not only to increased earnings for the workers, but to thousands of suggestions by the latter for enhancing efficiency of- working. Of these 80 per cent, were adopted. In December, 1929, Sir Henry visited England in connection with a proposal to amalgamate the 90 companies which comprise the national System. _ On that occasion he declared that Empire trade could only be based on economic considerations. In February, 1930„ he aroused comment by his criticisms of the system under which British railways were conducted.