WOODEN SHIPS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 26 May 1917, Page 5

WOODEN SHIPS.

NEW ZEALAND MIGHT BUILD THEM.

Writing on the 16th inst., the Sydney correspondent of the Wellington

The news that America is meeting a sudden urgent demand by buildin^ a fleet ot wooden ships has aroused much interest m Australia. Why, it is asked, cannot ships bo built in Australia as well as in America. Small wooden ships are regularly launched here; why not extend the industry to embrace larger, ocean-going vessels? It appears that the same conditions which produced the demand for wooden ships have made it difficult for Australia to take advantage of the demand. In other words, the trouble lies in the high freights prevailing. Australia produces little, if any, timber suitable for shipbuilding. Pine- ™? m? st be used, and, in the past, shipbuilders have employed Oregon pine from America, and kauri, from JSew Zealand. But since the outbreak of war, the freight on Oregon pine has risen from 8s to 95s per 1000 feet, and the price from 8s to 35s per 100 feet, and, therefore, these rates are prol hibitive. The Australian builder would be quite willing to use kauri, which though more costly than -usual, is still not at a prohibitive price; but for some reason that is not very clear kauri cannot at present be obtained from New Zealand in anything like the required quantities. "One shipwright -has suggested that- New Zealand is deliberately withholding the wood—though he could offer no reason tor the Dominion adoptino- such, a course. b

So the Australians are embarrassed even in doing their usual insignificant shipbuilding, and they canibt contemplate any extension of the industry. jbere is an abundance of hard woods, tor the superstructure and fittings of ships, but the only wood that might prove a substitute 'for pine is the Australian cedar, and cedar, it appears, grows m such a scattered way, and in such inaccessible places, that it is not yet proved a payable proposition. One shipwright has asked, and apparently with reason, why the shipbuilding industry should not be established, in an important way, in Auckland. He points out that, with the abundance of kauri and other suitable timbers available in Auckland, enterprising builders should be able to compete with the Americans. The demands, for wooden merchantmen may not persist more than five years; but smaller wooden ships will be required for a considerable time after that