SHIPBUILDING

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22064, 10 September 1941, Page 4

SHIPBUILDING

Plea For Renewal And Expansion

Lack Of Steel Industry

No Bar

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, September 9. A plea for the revival and expansion of the shipbuilding industry in New Zealand was made by Commodore Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff after the. launching of the minesweeper Rimu to-day. Not only would it be valuable to the Navy but it would help in the replacement of merchant shipping after the war, he said.

Referring to the difficulty that 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 which 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 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 the advantage there. He very much envied the ships Australia was building, and wished New Zealand could do the same, but now a start was being made. The absence of a steel industry was not a real bar. Japan, for instance, was carrying out a huge programme of shipbuilding yet she had no iron. He felt sure that this was an opportunity that would be taken. He would like to think 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 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 that the time was not far distant when we would be building them. “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 future.”

Supporting Commodore Parry’s remarks in his address on behalf of the contractors, Mr E. H. Rhodes said many years ago shipbuilding was one of the main industries of the city. A fleet of fast schooners staunch barques and barquentlnes and coasters under sail and steam operated from Auckland. They were built and launched here.