NEW MINESWEEPER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21152, 21 July 1943, Page 4

NEW MINESWEEPER

AUCKLAND LAUNCHING N.Z. SHIPYARDS PRAISED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 20. Commodore Dowding, in his first public appearance in Auckland to-day at the launching of the new minesweeper Tawhai, referred to the great urgency of shipbuilding. He said that ships were taking the water at British shipyards at an incredible rate. The sea was the life of New Zealand as of the British people and every ship built here was a gesture of self-reliance by New Zealand. It was not too much tod say that the effort of the Dominion in ship construction had contributed by relieving the demand on Britain to provide minesweepers and other vessels for the great invasion of Sicily. The ship was christened by Mrs. Tirikatene, whose husband is ttie Minister in Charge of Native Affairs, the Hon. E. T. Tirikatene, was among the speakers at the ceremony. The launching of the rebuilt and converted coastal vessel Tiroa, coincided with that of Tawhai from an adjacent yard, making the first doublelaunching recorded in Auckland. Mr. Tirikatene, speaking as the representatinve of the Government, wore the mat ol' a Maori chieftain.

The Tiroa, which had been rebuilt from the keel up, is now a Diesel motor ship and will be employed in trade between Patea and Wellington by the South Taranaki Shipping Company.