SHIP BUILDING IN DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 24860, 28 September 1942, Page 4

SHIP BUILDING IN DOMINION

INDUSTRIAL EFFORT AIDS FIGHTING MEN (P.A.) WELLINGTON, September 27. “The facts of modern war held the nation together as nothing else 2® s done,” said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) when speaking at the launching of the fifth New Zealandbuilt minesweeper yesterday. “The soldiers, sailors and airmen are all dependant on the work of those at home. If we fail at home we defeat the men in the front rank. If any section fails it betrays the whole.” . . The Prime Minister was emphasizing the importance of industrial effort in backing the efforts of the men in the actual battle zones. Ship-building had gone on in Britain under heavy difficulties. No bomb damage he had seen anywhere in the British Isles had exceeded that at Clydebank and Bootle. The Germans had tried to bomb the Clydeside shipyards and had succeeded in devastating the homes of those who built the ships, but the yards had carried on. The same had occurred at Bootle, adjoining the Birkenhead yards, where thousands of houses had been destroyed. “I pray to God it never comes to us,” said Mr Fraser, “but if it does we have Britain’s standard before us.” Mr Fraser said that wherever one went round the world one met New Zealand sailors. “Our Navy has done well,” he said. “The Achilles did well at the River Plate and the deeds of the Leander, if not so spectacular, rank equally. From the Pacific Ocean to the British Channel you will find our men.” Mr Fraser said ship-building was on a microscopic scale compared with the work of the Fairfield shipyards or John Browns on Clydeside, but it was quite good in comparison. Three years ago no one had thought New Zealand could help in the provision of munitions, but today thousands of workers in the Dominion were helping to provide for the armed services. !