MOTOR SHIP LAUNCHED

Evening Star, Issue 23021, 28 July 1938, Page 16

MOTOR SHIP LAUNCHED

MOST POWERFUL AFLOAT VARIOUS PROBLEMS DISCUSSED Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, July 27. (Received July 28, at 10.50 a.m.) In the presence of a large New Zealand and Australian gathering, Lady Essendon launched at Swan, Hunter’s Wallsend shipyard, the Shaw Savill liner Dominion Monarch, of 27,000 tons gross,-with accommodation for 524 first class passengers, of which 159 will te in single-berth cabins. Every cabin will be equipped with a telephone. There will be a 250 ft sports deck and a swimming pool. Outstanding features will ;be refrigerated capacity of 505,000 cubic feet, of which 60,000 ft will he for chilled •gas-tight compartments. The loaded Igjpeed will be 22 knots, giving a sea service speed of approximately 20 knots and developing 32,000 horse-power. It is claimed that the vessel will be the most powerful British motor ship afloat. The maiden voyage to Wellington will commence on February 16. Mr W. J. Jordan (New Zealand High Commissioner) said he hoped the ship would participate in peaceful trade and give satisfaction to producers and consumers, also to the enterprising-Shaw Savill Company, which had greatly contributed to the development and prosperity of New Zealand. In a speech at the reception, the chairman, of the company (Mr John Denham Christie) said the ship was built at the same slip as the original Mauretania. Building costs were higher than freights justified, hut no reduction could be expected. Meanwhile foreigners increasingly captured the trade. He advised owners to let the builders plan the ships, and thus get a bedrock idea of costs in readiness for future expansion. Lord Essendon announced a schedule to Fretaantle in 26 days, to Adelaide in 30 days, to Sydney in 32 days, and to New Zealand in 35. He said that ship-building would remain a gamble till a revival of world trade, which at present was restricted through essential rearmament'. His company thought, on .the lines of the chairman’s suggestion, that the new ship price was 30 per cent, higher than its estimate of the economic figure. -