Watergate contract

Press, 15 July 1980, Page 19

Watergate contract

NZPA Washington Those Watergate leaks will be sealed at last: by a New Zealand company. The leaks are in the Watergate hotel-apartment complex, the scene of the political scandal which eventually led to President Nixon’s ousting. The New Zealand company is W. Graham and Hitchins, Ltd, of Renwick, near Blenheim. The company has won a contract to provide the materials to seal the leaks which have let in rainwater ever since the high-priced luxury

complex on the banks of the Potomac River was built.

The work will be done by the Blenheim company’s United States subsidiary, Hitchins America. The 5U575,000 supply contract is 'the biggest since the American subsidiary was set up in 1978. The company will coat and seal the parapets and walls above the roof of the Watergate complex. A separate SUS6OXMM> deal has been signed for similar work at the University of Maryland. If all goes well, Hitchins will get a further SUS3O,OOO contract to waterproof the balconies

of the Watergate buildings. Hitchins* sales manager (Mr H. W. J. Massey) said he was also doing a test for sealing and coating submarines used at Disneyworld in Florida. “This is the thin edge of the wedge,” said Mr Massey, who first used the Hitchins materials on a dairy’ factory in Hamilton 20 years ago. “If it all goes well, and I’m sure it will, this will grow. We have an excellent coating, based on the epoxy-polyurethane system, which they just can’t get here. There’s a huge demand for it and there’s a lot of w’ork available.”