NEW MINESWEEPER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24708, 10 September 1941, Page 6

NEW MINESWEEPER

SECOND SHIP COMPLETED LAUNCHING AT AUCKLAND PLEA FOR EXPANSION OF INDUSTRY (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Sept. 9. A fortnight after the launching of the minesweeper Hinau, her sister ship, Rimu, was sent down the slipway to-day after being christened with a bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs Parry, the wife of Commodore W. E. Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff. Like that of the Hinau, it was a perfect launching, the stout steel and wooden vessel sliding slowly into the Waitemata, where she was picked up by a tug and towed to the fitting-out basin. A sprig of rata was at the bow, and as the ship gathered speed down the greased ways the New Zealand Ensign, the Union Jack and the White Ensign were broken out on board, amid cheers from the large crowd, while the National Anthem was played. Dependence on Ships

A plea for the revival and expansion of the shipbuilding industry in New Zealand was made by Commodore Parry. Not only would it be valuable to the navy, he said, but it would help in the replacement of merchant shipping after the war, he said. Referring to the difficulty thai had been found in securing builders for naval ships, Commodore Parry said it was a mystery to him why there were not more shipbuilding yards In New Zealand. In the old days there were many yards w'hich built wooden ships, but since steel construction became general the industry had to some extent languished. “If ever there was a country dependent for its life blood on ships, it is New Zealand,” he added. “ Yet for some reason the shipowners needing ships have gone overseas,” It had been suggested that this was largely because iron was not yet produced in New Zealand. The great advances made by the industry in Australia had been based on the steel industry, and to some extent the Commonwealth had an advantage there. He very much envied the ships Australia was building and wished that New Zealand could do the same, but now a start was being made.

The absence of a steel industry was not a real bar, he said. Japan, for instance, was carrying out a huge programme of shipbuilding, yet she had no iron. He felt quite sure, he said, that this was an opportunity that would be taken. He would like to think that this ship and her two sister ships of composite construction marked the transition from wood to steel. The next minesweepers built would be steel and would incorporate certain, apparatus which could not be used in the composite ships. A steel ship could hold more than a composite vessel of the same size. Even then we should not be content. Corvettes and even destroyers were being built in Australia and we could do with larger ships, too. He felt sure the time was not far distant when we would be building them. Replacement of Merchant Losses “Even if the war ends to-morrow, there will be a big demand for the replacement of merchant losses,” he added. “ What a fine thing it would be if New Zealand could build at least part of her own requirements in the future." Supporting Commodore Parry’s remarks in his address on behalf of the contractors, Mr E. H. Rhodes said that many years ago shipbuilding was one of the main industries of the city. A fleet of fast schooners, staunch barques and barquentines and coasters, under sail and steam, operated from Auckland. They were built and launched hero.

PORT CHALMERS ENTERPRISE NEW GENERAL MANAGER (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 9. A new general manager and a works manager have been appointed for Messrs Stevenson . and Cook. Ltd., engineers, who are the contractors to the Government for the construction of minesweepers at Port Chalmers. The new general manager is Mr A. E. Dennis, engineer and technical adviser to the Department of Industries and Commerce. He will leave Wellington shortly to take up his new work, which will include the erection of a modern works and foundry. While in the Government service, which he joined in 1938, Mr Dennis was in charge of the dismantling of the Port Bowen, which was stranded at CastleclifT, and the salvaging of many thousands of pounds worth of machinery, steel and other materials, With this large-scale reclamation by the Government went the rehabilitation, by the re-erection of the refrigerating plant from the Port Bowen, of the idle Kakariki freezing works, near Feilding, adding approximately 700,000 cubic feet, to the Dominion total of war emergency cold storage. Following the success of the Port Bowen reclamation, the Government decided to take over and break up the steamer Mokoia, which has lain at Port Chalmers since about 1928. Mr Dennis will continue to direct these related works, and will also supervise the recovery of steel plate from the pipe lines of the abandoned section of the Waipori hydro-electric scheme operated by the Dunedin City Council. Prior to joining the Government service, Mr Dennis was with Messrs Cory, Wright and Salmon, Wellington. Mr C. Gould, who has been appointed works manager for Messrs Stevenson and Cook, Ltd., has been engineer of the Patent Slip Company, Wellington.