THE MAIL CONTRACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13278, 10 September 1906, Page 6

THE MAIL CONTRACT.

PARTICULARS OF THE 'NEW COM. PANY. THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL | COMBINATION. In discussing the personnel of the new company formed at Home to conduct the Australian mail service, tho engineering correspondent of the Loudon Shipping Gazette and Lloyd's List remarks: — "It is safe enough to say that the shipbuilding concerns which are Interested in the new Australian mail service make up the most powerful combination of the kind the world has ever seen. Messrs. William Beardmore and Sons are the well-known, armour-plate makers of Parkhead, Glasgow, who' a year or two ago absorbed the old- ';- established shipbuilding and marine engin- j/ eering business of Messrs. Robert Napier ,'-- and Sons, Govan. At Govan the Nnpiers "*' built many mercantile and warships that /!' were notable, but the place proved ':o bo much too small for the. ambitions of Mr. William Beardmore, who proceeded to lay :<|S out a new yard lower down the Clydo at 'i,f Dalmuir. In this arc 1000 ft covered build- ' ing slips and magnificently equipped sheds !#j§ and engineering, boiler-making, and wood- ■ -'; working shops. A fitting out basin adjoins, ifS served by, one of .tho, heaviest • electrical cranes in Europe. The wealth of the* connection is pretty nearly illimitable. In the north, at any ate, the words ' Beardmore' and ' money' are taken to be sj'nonymous. • ]$£ "Between Messrs. Beardmoro and another . member of the syndicate—Messrs. ' Viekers, Sons, and Maxim-(Limited), Barrow-in-Fur- ' nessthere is a working arrangement which begins with naval guns and ends it is difficult to say where. Of late not. many large merchant steamers of tho kind that will be required for the Australian mail service have been constructed at Barrow. The City of Rome was built here, and some Anchor liners as well—the Fuvnessia notably. But the three Canadian Pacifio Empresses press of India, Empress of China, and Empress of Japan probably tho three ships by which the concern would prefer to be remembered. The Viekers interest is also powerful in finance. "The inference that Lord Armstrong represents the Armstrong-Whitworth interest in the coalition may be right and it may be wrong. In any case, the project which in- • terests Lord Armstrong personally is unlikely to languish for lack of funds. Elswiek is most notable, of course, for its ships of war, but it has a mercantile side of considerable importance, too. As a matter of ) fact it builds at Walker every year more merchant craft than any of the other membora of the syndicate, except, perhaps, Sir James Laing and Sous. '". , "In naval construction these three in combination—Elswick, Barrow, and Dalmuir—would possess resources which the world could not equal. In mercantile construction this counts, of course, for much more. To the habitual builder of battleships 500 ft liners begin to bo ' mere mouthfuls '—as shipbuilders themselves call ' little things." .-.■,''•■.:.', jißl