Canadian Shipbuilding

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22156, 27 December 1941, Page 4

Canadian Shipbuilding

E*ROM the Canadian Minister of Supply, Mr C. D. * Howe, there recently came the prediction that by next year the Dominion’s production of cargo ships may equal that of Great Britain. Canada now has 150 plants turning out ships’ components. The first of the fleet of 10,000-ton vessels, of which 24 keels are already laid, was sent down the launching ways only a month after construction started. Her engines and boilers were ready for installation, and in a few weeks more she was in service. Only five per cent, of the material used in her was not of Dominion manufacture. Here is a factor in the crucial Battle of the Atlantic deserving of more than passing attention., Canada’s war effort, modestly appraised and not infrequently decried at home, has been full of surprises. This is one of them. Before the war Canada was not regarded as a shipbuilding country. It is true that the little settlement at Lunenberg, and some other communities in Nova Scotia and on the West Coast turned out fishing schooners and other small coastwise craft used for pleasure and profit. But the steel-built cargo ships in Halifax and other harbours came from British or American shipyards. Now Canada is producing such ships not only for herself but for the Motherland. The speed and efficiency with which she is doing this is attributable in large degree to the devotion of her workers. There are vessels under way on 44 construction slips in 14 Canadian shipyards, said Mr Howe at the launching of the Fort Ville Marie. In operating them not one hour of time has been lost in industrial disputes.