BUILDING OF WARSHIPS

Southland Times, Issue 17306, 31 March 1913, Page 2

BUILDING OF WARSHIPS

HOW THE COST HAS INCREASES. In the memorandum which was forwarded by the First Lord of the Admiralty to the Canadian Government, and which was produced in the Dominion Parliament the other day, the cost Of. a plant for building battleships is fixed at £15,000,000. It is pointed out that a fleet unit that could have been ordered In 1909 at a cost of £4,407,000 could not be built to-day for less than £6,139,000, the increase "facing due to the rise In prices and thfe greater power that was required-, in the later battle cruisers. Mr Churchill, in hie memorandum, remarks that the Australian unit stands on a different footing, because It Is relieved by the British vessels that affe maintained on the Australian station. , The Times, ih a leading article on Canada’s navy, says : "We do not doubt that If the Canadians set themselves to build battleships they will achieve their purpose as rapidly as any other people" in the world who were undertaking the business for the first time, but - effective help for the Empire would be delayed' some years.” The article goes on to say that the more .rapidly the Canadians succeeded with their project the more certainly would their success be gained at the cost of Britain’s ship-building establishments, because the skilled workmen, whose labour is indispensable, are already insufficient to supply the demand.