BUILDING SHIPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25211, 25 May 1945, Page 8

BUILDING SHIPS

NEW ZEALAND TRADE OVERTAKING WAR LOSSES (Special Correspondent) (Heed. 12.20 a.m.) LONDON, May 24 Plans for replacing losses of cargo ships during the war have been made by the Shaw Savill, the New Zealand "land the Federal Shipping Companies. The Shaw Savill Co. has already ordered two ships of 13,000 tons, one of which is now being built at Liverpool. The New Zealand and Federal Companies have added six ships to their fleets during the war. Three more are now being built and a further three will be laid down next year. Size of Vessels Those built during the war were three 10,000-ton vesspls and three of 12,000 tons. Two of 10,000 tons and one of 12,000 tons are now being built. Those which will be laid down next year will all be of 12,000 tons. The Shaw Savill ship at Liverpool is being built by Cammell Laird, while the other, to be laid down at Belfast, will be constructed by Harland and Wolf. It is expected that they will be delivered in about 18 months' time. They are both refrigerated cargo ships with a refrigerated space of 524,000 cubic feet. Their chilled cargo capacity will be 114,000 cubic feet. They will also be able to carry general cargo, for which they will have 210,000 cubic feet. Passenger Accommodation Power will be derived from high-pres-sure turbines with water-tube boilers. There will be accommodation for 12 passengers. They could be converted under wartime conditions to provide for 100 passengers. . A feature of both new ships will be the crews' quarters. No cabin will have more than two occupants, and there will be a special mess and recreatioh rooms. The overall length of the ships will be 561 ft and the beam 71ft. •It is understood that all merchant and oassenger ships will continue to be requisitioned until the end of the war with Japan, and that several will be required for trooping for some time after hostilities have Ceased.

SUPPLIES FOR RUSSIA BIG BRITISH SHIPMENTS LONDON, May 28 The value of the supplies transported to Russia by the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation exceeded £120,000,000, said Sir Francis Joseph, chairman and director of many large business concerns in Britain, speaking at a luncheon given by the corporation to a Soviet trade delegation. Shipments included 34 complete power stations, weighing 84,000 tons, and 257,000 tons of foodstuffs, he stated. The corporation carried 628,000 tons on the road service from the Persian Gulf, using 5000 trucks and employing 10,000 native drivers and assistants.

WATER FOR CASTAWAYS AN AMERICAN INVENTION POCKET-SIZE "SOLAR STILL" NEW YORK. May 7 A new pocket-size solar still assures a continuous supply of fresh water to United States Army and Navy fliers forced down in tropical waters. The still, under average conditions in the South-west Pacific, can convert salt water into safe drinking water at a rate of more than a pint in eight hours. Under ideal conditions it can turn out almost double that amount in the same period of time. It actually harnesses the rays of the sun to make drinking water of sea water. The still itself consists of a vinyl plastic envelope folded into a pocketsize package. It is inflated like a balloon and tied alongside the lifeboat or raft, so that it floats on the water. A black cellulose sponge, stretched through the middle of the envelope, soaks up water and absorbs the heat of the sun. Then, through evaporation and distillation, the sea water is converted into safe drinking water. There are no moving parts, and the device will work indefinitely. Until the development of the Sunstill there were only four other methods of providing survivors with the first essential to their wellbeing: equipping the craft with canned or bottled water; catching rainwater in a tarpaulin; the us© of de-salination briquettes; and the squeezing of water from fish The Sunstill has high priority on the list of equipment used for air-sGa rescue in the Pacific. WEATHER REPORTS SECRET STATIONS IN SEA INFORMATION FOR GERMANY LONDON, May 21 A weather forecast of conditions around the British Isles was sent by radio daily to Germany throughout the war by secret submerged automatic meteorological stations which the Germans placed at strategic points in the sea. Reporting this, the Sunday Dispatch says news of the invention was revealed with the lifting of Eire's censorship. Stations ringed the British Isles—some were submerged in the Irish Sea —and sent out vital weather clues which assisted the Germans' plan of air raids against Britain and U-boat attacks against Allied shipping. The stations were about 300 ft long. Moored on the ocean's bed, they surfaced daily. Then an aerial would automatically appear from contraptions in the centre, and a message would go out. It is believed that U-boats serviced the stations —renewed batteries, and so on. One of these stations broke from its moorings near Slvne Head, 50 miles from Galway. Fishermen thought at first it was a submarine, but, investigating. discovered it was something "new." By trawler, they towed the station to Clifden fishing port, where the Irish Army authorities took it over.

HOME SURGERY OUTBACK . INSTRUCTIONS BY RADIO SYDNEY. May '2O When bad weather grounded the IBroken Bill flying doctor, Dr F. Wood, lie sat in his office and, by radio, prescribed for patients hundreds of mile? away. The patients' complaints were reported to the doctor by pedal wireless. The first case was a station hand at Gnalta, far western New South Wales. Several weeks ago a lamp had exploded in his face and a piece of brass had become embedded in his forehead Dr Wood instructed the manager of the station to sterilise a pair of scissors, then step by step described how to operate. The patient is recovering. Other recent cases treated on radio instructions included: a baby with a bleeding ear at a homestead along the Queensland border fence; a man who had fallen from his horse and broken his ankle; a 16-year-old boy in Queensland who had a head-swelling that needed lancing; and a baby and a shearer at separate stations, suffering with "severe pains."