THE AWATEA LAUNCHED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22816, 27 February 1936, Page 9

THE AWATEA LAUNCHED

;:■;"■■ union company's vessel : > distinguished gathering • V :' LONDON, February 25. la the presence a distinguished .gathering Lady - Bledisloe launched the Awatea, which took the water in perfect style. ~ Mr ! James Callander, a director-of Messrs Bickers Armstrong, thanking Lady Bledisloe at the luncheon following, hinted: that the Union Company i was alive, to the possibilities of New Zealand's entry into the chilled meat trade as a result of recent developin ents in; refrigeration. . ■ ij He added that its: policy was now so T progressive that there was little opportunity for foreign tonnage to enter its domain. Sir Charles Craven, stressing the de-;-:velopment of British engineering works, ddeclareda he was convinced that ;they .* were able 'to"undertake.;a. defence programme efficiently andiwithout panic. COMPANY'S ENTERPRISE ■'. LONDON, February 25. At a luncheon given by Messrs Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-on-Furness after Lady Bledisloe had launched the Union Company's 14,000-ton vessel Awatea, Lord Bledisloe referred to the dark outlook for British shipping in-the Pacific, and said it was a source of hopeful relief that the problem was receiving -Ithe earnest consideration of the Australian and New Zealand , Governments, ' \ which would be- materially augmented by the definite and generous encouragement of the British Government. Lord Bledisloe praised the company's enterprise in building the coastal vessels Mariia and Kauri,- with the possibility of laying down' a third, and in buying five DeHavilland air liners for" services r in the Dominion.;: