COASTAL SERVICES

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 121, 28 November 1928, Page 13

COASTAL SERVICES

ANOTHER SHIP ORDERED FOE WEST COAST #ADE, For many years the firm of Messrs. Bailey and Sons, Ltd., of Auckland, have been engaged in the New Zealand shipbuilding trade, and coastal vessels construeed in their Auckland yards are in service at nearly every port in the Dominion. Since the war, however, shipping owners have generally favoured a larger type of vessel, and their orders for new motor ships and steamers have been placed with British firms. The result has been that the New Zealand shipbuilding has languished, and for a number of years no vessels of ,any size, with tho exception of the Auckland ferry steamers, have been built. The announcement that an order has been placed with the Auckland firm for the construction of a new auxiliary scow 120 ft in length and costing about £16,000 will bo received with satisfaction by all associtaed with the local shipping industry. Tho owners of tho new vessel, Messrs. Wallis Brothers, havo purchased a big tract of timber land in the vicinity of Ohura, about 10Q miles south of Greymouth, and it is their intention to freight tho timber to Greymouth for transhipment to Sydney. It is also proposed to use tho vessel for occasional trips across the Tasnian. Built to carry about 350 tons on a loaded draught of 7ft and 127 ft in length, tho new vessel is the largest of her type constructed in New Zealand for many years by Messrs. Bailey and Sons. In design she will be somewhat similar to the Zingara, which is at present trading between Wellington and Hokitika. She will "be fitted with a t 'gallant forecastle, and accommodation for the officers and a limited number of passengers will be provided in the half-poop. Schooner rigged and powered by two 140 h.p, Widdop seinidiesel engines, the scow will be capable of a speed of about 10 knots. The hull will bo three-skinned and built of heart of kauri. The contract for the construction of tho vessel was let last week, and the building will commence immediately. Delivery is expected at the end of about nine months. Captain Jolly, of Hokitika, has left for Auckland, where he will superintend the construction of the scow on behalf of the owners, and when she is completed ho will take command.