ATLANTIC TRADE
ANOTHER GIANT
SISTER TO QUEEN MARY
(From "The Post's" Roprosantatlvu.) LONDON, June :'.().
Close on the heels of the ninidon voyage of the Queen Mary has conio the announcement by Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of Iho Exchequer, that a sister ship is to bis built. Replying to a question jn tho House of Commons, Mr. Chamberlain said:— "I have received application from the Cunard White Star Company lov authority to use the sum available under the North Atlantic Shipping Act. for the construction of a sislcr ship to the Queen Mary. After careful examination of the company's reasons. I have agreed to this in principle— but have reserved rights of i urther consultation before any contract is signed. The company has obtained preliminary tenders from various yards, and I understand that, after consideration, they are negotiating in the first instance with John Brown and Co., the builders of the Queen Mary. The choice of builder must be a matter for consideration by the company of the relative technical and commercial merits of the case." In addition to John Brown and Co. three other shipbuilaing companies were invited to submit designs and details of costs for a sister ship to the Queen Mary. They were VickersArmstrong (which has yards at Walker-on-Tyne and Barrow-in-Furness), Camiriell Laird and Co. (Birkenhead), and Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson (Wallsend-on-Tyne). It is generally understood that the companies which, have unsuccessfully tendered will be compensated bjf. the Government with contracts for two new battleships. '. If this is so, one will be built by Cammell Laird and Co.- and one by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, with Vickers-Armstrong providing the machinery. Tenders for the battleships have not yet been asked for. It is suggested that the name of the sister ship to the Queen Mary may be either the King George or the King George V. The fact that the new ship will probably be built on the Clyde suggests that the slipways already constructed, and the patterns and equipment for the pueen Mary may be used to construct nn almost identical ship. Nearly J£ 4,000,000 in wages will be paid to the 200,000 workers who will be employed | q if. the construction of the new ship, directly and indirectly.' By the terms qf an agreement with the Cunard Steamship Company and the Oceanic Steam- Navigation Company (White Star) the Treasury undertook to advance amounts of up to £4.500,000 for the completion of ..the Queen- Mary and working capital for Cunard White Star, Limited. The Treasury was empowered *at its discretion to advance up to £5,000,000 for'another new ship, or for other new ships. Total advances of up to £9,500,000 were authorised by the North Atlantic Shipping Act, 1934. ' The decision that a sister ship shall be built has been received with much satisfaction, although' there is disappointment on the banks of the Mersey and Tyne because the vessel will not be built there. Not only does the decision mean that more employment will be given to many hundreds: it also means an increase in the confidence of British shipping. The experience gained by Messrs, Brown in building the Queen Mary has given the firm an immense advantage oyei* any other shipbuilding firm, and means that the firm could effect an enormous saving in the preliminary costs of a similar vessel.
It is expected that the sister ship will incorporate several improvements on the .Queen Mary, for, ; in the words of Sir Percy Bates on his return homefrom her first trip to New York' and back, no one has ever . built a ship without being able to build a better one.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19360713.2.17
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 4
Word Count
604ATLANTIC TRADE Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 4
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