WORLD'S LARGEST DOCK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 163, 13 July 1925, Page 12

WORLD'S LARGEST DOCK.

SOUTHAMPTON'S SCHEME. TO SPEND THIRTEEN MILLIONS. DREDGING AND RECLAMATION". Inspired by the swan-song of Lord Devohport, who, before relinquishing his position as chairman of the Port of London Authority, disclosed his plans for making the capital of England the greatest port in the world. Southampton has under consideration a project which should enable it to become the world's largest dockyard. It is hoped to complete tho plane for London in four years at a cost of £4,000.000. A floating landing-stage will be provided for ocean liners, for which an immense dry dock will also be constructed, while the West India Dock will undergo extensive improvement. The scheme for the expansion of the Southampton docks will involve an expenditure of no lees than £13,000,000, and will cover a decade.

A mud flat, two miles long and half a mile wide, will be reclaimed; the river Test will be dredged so as to afford a passage at low water for the world's biggest vessels; while two dry docks and five jetties will be constructed, capable of accommodating simultaneously liners of the size of the Berengaria and the Leviathan.

The scheme is in the hands of the Southern Railway, which has recently been the subject of a certain amount of adverse criticism on the score of its service. The inception of the scheme is, for the present, delayed by negotiations with the owner of the mud flats. Before these are reclaimed, the main dock extension cannot be undertaken. The developments in prospect are of interest, eince Southampton is the port of call for the Aberdeen and occasionally the White Star, Commonwealth and other liners.

The five jetties, which will run diagonally into the river Test, will each be 1000 ft in length by 200 ft wide. They will carry storage sheds, equipped with the most modern loading and unloading machinery. A channel 600 ft wide will be dredged down the Test, at a depth of not less than 4oft at lower water. Adjacent to the jetties will be the two graving docks. A loop railway will be constructed to link up with the present line. Within the loop, which will circle the reclaimed ground, warehouses, factories and other

buildings will be erected.

The new scheme will do away with the congestion that has for some time prevailed when the port had to handle half-a-dozen liners at a time, and will greatly facilitate the passenger traffic to America. It will also enable a much greater volume of cargo to be dealt with.