By: DavidUsher30th Nov 2016 11:02AMFrank Usher
A few days ago I came across Philip Proctor’s article: “History of the Dunlop Company in New Zealand 1896- 1965”. I would like to amplify a couple of the comments made therein about my father, Frank Usher (b. 21 Sept 1906, d. 17 Aug 1985).
My father indeed had no degree in accountancy (page 46). However, he had been made aware that some people placed great store on having a degree, and so he decided to send off for a correspondence course that would result in him being awarded a certificate. The company that he contacted sent him a trial package, a sort of aptitude test of his ability to do the work. He found it rather trivial, and solved most of the questions in his head. So he did not bother to “show his working” in what he returned to the company. The company wrote back to him to say that they were sorry, but that he did not have the skills to complete the course and he was not cut out to be an accountant. At the time, he was already chief overseas accountant for the Dunlop Company in the UK. He decided to not pursue that particular avenue any further. I do remember his speed with numbers, and that he liked to do long multiplications in his head, easily beating-out one of his colleagues who was using a slide-rule.
Dad did not often make critical comments about his Dunlop colleagues, but he did say enough to me in private, that I can see an interesting symmetry in his attitude to Philip Proctor (page 71). I have no memory of his saying anything to me about hoping to become managing director when Philip Proctor retired, and indeed it seems inconsistent with his expressed view that a new manager is best brought in from outside.
The other comment I have concerns his leaving Dunlop Canada and returning to the company in New Zealand (page 71). I understand that he had gone to Canada because they were having similar problems to those that he had helped to solve in New Zealand, but on a much bigger scale. I remember him telling me, with some amusement, that one of his recommendations was that Dunlop Canada was top heavy with administrators, and that they should remove some, including himself. I guess that didn’t go over too well with some of them.
- David A. Usher, Ithaca, NY, November 2016