NEED FOR SHIPS

Grey River Argus, 7 February 1941, Page 4

NEED FOR SHIPS

Australian Help INDUSTRIAL POSSIBILITY. SYDNEY January 11. Various schemes by which Australia can assist in offsetting the depletion of commercial shipping by enemy action are being considered by the Federal Cabinet. Foremost of these is to hasten the establishment of the shipbuilding industry by the assembly of ships at centralised slips from materials manufactured in large quantities at a number of engineering plants. it is suggested that merchant shipbuilding could in that way follow _ the general plan adopted in Australia in the manufacture of aircraft. A survey of engineering workshops to determine the capacity of various establishments for making ship parts and fittings is to be made soon by the Government. Other proposals are for the building of wooden ships and of ships with wood and steel and i concrete hulls. 1 The Minister of the Navy, Mr. Hughes, revealed that the Govern- ; men! had been offered a nurnbei of forcign-owned ships. The prices asked were high, but in these times pi ice was purely relative .to demand, he ; said. The offers had been _ trans- , mitted to the proper authorities. The establishment of the shipbuilding industry would have the support I of the unions. The secretary of the i Boilermakers’ Union, Mr. G. Sinclair ' urged an immediate conference of I practical men as a means of paving i I the wav. “If Mr. Hughes will con-i vene a “conference of men who know | the business, instead of getting silly | I ideas from persons who do not leave I their offices,” said Mr. Sinclair, “we will give him some practical advice, which may be of assistance to him, hand probably of value to the country. I '“We have already guaranteed him against a shortage of labour, and if I he organises in a big way, through I those who understand the position, he iwlll be able to obtain the workmen] , to do the job.” i I Officials of other key unions stated | that they were prepared to co-oper-

late with the Federal Government. (The secretary of the Shipwrights (Union, Mr. R. Jackson, said: ‘We ! agree with Mr. Hughes when he says ' that the demand is for ships now, and ' we disagree with him when he adds, ' ‘not ships in the future.’ We want (ships built here after the war, as i well as during the war. We would be prepared to co-operate with the | Government in devising ways, and means to assist Britain to the utmost and we will discuss dilution of 1 labour if the Government will discuss future shipbuilding." Mr. Hughes said that the demand was for ships now—not ships in the ! future. They must be constructed ,as quickly as possible. otherwise j Great Britain would suffer. She reI quired 50,000 tons of food a daj and I oil for the expanding war machine, jAn air force superior to Germany s I would be of little value in six months 'without ships to transport fuel.