Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1945. BRITISH SHIPPING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 58, 18 December 1945, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1945. BRITISH SHIPPING

In pre-war days the British mercantile service had a particularly fine record, which was considerably enhanced as a result o£ the heroism displayed by the men who manned the ships on the seven seas in the course of the world’s greatest conflict. The tpsk of keeping Britain abreast and even ahead of the other maritime nations fell on shipowners, and to them Britain will again ■have to turn to build up vital export trade. Architects, estimators and drawing office departments worked at top speed during the war, and as a result of research were able to produce bigger, faster and better ships. That knowledge will now be turned to good account, and information coming from Britain indicates that the demands reaching shipyards are heavier than they have even been. British shipbuilding is both economically and scientifically planned. Every new type of ship built to-day is designed on the basis of experience gained in experimental tank-testing with the result that the experimental tanks at the National Physical Laboratory have such a large programme on hand that man) shipbuilding firms are having to build their, own models, which they send to the laboratory for testing. This scientific approach to new construction and concentration on individual designs as against mass production methods is having a favourable effect on ithe export drive, since ship-own-ers know that British-built ships will be-designed for their special needs. Moreover, the designers are incorporating many improvements in hull form. This was indicated by an eminent Clyde shipbuilder, Mr H. M. Macmillan, chairman of the Ely ths wood Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow, at a launch from his ' yard the other day, - when he said that shipbuilders were looking forward again to striving to produce the ever-elusive perfect ship for her job. The presentation of the censure motion in the House of Commons recently brought to light the fact that there has been a lull in the change over from war to peace-time work, but Government speakers assured the House that this -was only temporary. The rate of demobilisation from the forces will no doubt be speeded up, for skilled labour is urgently required in lire sliip)ards to meet the ever-growing demand, and there are prospects of full employment here for a long

time to ■come. It is encouraging to note that the bulk of the demand is for cargo ships, and the percentage of orders for the Pacific is fairly high. Taking a line through this, it can be seen that trade between England and the Dominions should soon be flourishing, and once the flow of goods commences conditions should lap-

idly return to something like prewar levels.