IMMEDIATE ACTION

Evening Star, Issue 23915, 19 June 1941, Page 8

IMMEDIATE ACTION

MINE SWEEPER CONTRACTS YARD CONSTRUCTION COMMENCED Speed is the essence of the contract released by the Government on Tuesday to Messrs Stevenson and Cook to build four mine sweepers at Port Chalmers, and no time , has been lost in taking tho, preliminary stops. This morning bulldozers were at work levelling the site of the new shipbuilding yards, and a start was also made on the building of the workshops.

Tho erection of tho buildings is in the bands of the Love Construction Company Ltd., who submitted the lowest tender. The buildings have been designed by Mr H. M'Dowell Smith, and tho organisation of the whole of the shipbuilding programme is under tho control of Mr James Fletcher, managing director of the Fletcher Construction Company, who has been so appointed' by Messrs Stevenson and Cook. Mr Fletcher, who stated this morning that a start had been made at Port Chalmers, said the planning of the shipyard would be along the lines recently adopted in the United States, where it was the practice to house completely the slipway on which the vessels were built and to provide for overhead electric travelling cranes for the handling of all materials. The yard at Port Chalmers will be laid down as a permanent shipbuilding yard, and will be able to accommodate vessels of larger size than the mine sweepers.

The main building will be 250 ft long by 80ft wide, and will have two six-ton electric travelling cranes traversing the whole distance of tho yard. In addition a two-story building, 200 ft by 40ft, will bouse the laying-out lofts, staff dining room, locker room, carpenters’ workshop, and outfitters’ stores. The general workshop building, which will be of one story, will be 150 ft long by 45ft wide, and will house the machinery and equipment. Modern drills, air compressors, and other equipment will be transferred from the workshops controlled by the Fletcher Construction Company, thus obviating the difficulty of securing the necessary tools, which cannot be obtained from overseas today.

Schedules had been prepared setting down definite dates for the launching of the various units, and the various sub-contractors for the engines and equipment were also working to a definite time schedule. ' A considerable amount of very valuable information had been secured through tho Minister of Supply and Munitions (Hon. D. G. Sullivan) and tho Marine Department, and this information would obviate a considerable amount of preparatory work. The contractors for the buildings had undertaken to complete them by the end of August, and Mr Sullivan had accepted an invitation to perform the ceremony of driving the first rivet on September 1. LABOUR PROBLEM. ’ Mr Fletcher said that as soon as the erection of the buildings had progressed far enough a call would be made for all classes of labour, and ho expressed the belief that there would be no difficulty in securing the necessary staffs, as tho conditions under which the men would be working would ensure continuous employment without loss of time because of bad weather. In the recentlyconstructed Australian shipyards, Mr Fletcher remarked, - inexperienced men had soon adapted themselves to the requirements of shipyard labour, and he thought the New Zealander could adapt himself as quickly to new conditions as could any Australian. If necessary skilled and unskilled labour necessary to build the ships could be drafted from other less essential industries. PORT CHALMERS’S APPRECIATION. The Mayor of Port Chalmers (Mr H. S. Watson) lias sent a telegram to Mr Sullivan as follows: —“ On behalf of the people of Port Chalmers I desire to express our appreciation of your decision to build mine sweepers here, and assure you of the Borough Council’s full co-operation with all concerned in carrying out this important war effort.” —(Signed) H. S. Watson, Mayor.