CANCELLED CONTRACTS FOR SHIP BUILDING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 228, 26 September 1945, Page 5

CANCELLED CONTRACTS FOR SHIP BUILDING

MEN DISCHARGED IN AUCKLAND LIKELY TO BE ABSORBED IN OTHER WORK (P.A.) Auckland, Sept. 25 American and British shipbuilding contracts, worth about £320,000 to Auckland films, have been cancelled as the result of .he end of the war and the finish of Lend-Lease. Following advice from the Shipbuilding Division of the Marine Department of the cancellation of orders, some Auckland companies have given notice to a number of their employees, and others arc- likely to lose their jobs in the next week. At leas 150 men, including carpenters, welders, boilev-makers, engineers and other tradesmen and labourercs, have been given notice. Some ceased work to-day, having been given a week’s pay in lieu of notice. “On present indications I think we can absorb those men comparatively easily,” said the District Manpower Officer, Mr. C. G. S. Ellis. “There is a strong demand for skilled tradesmen of almost every descrip ion. A problem presents itself, however, with men who are now regarded as skilled in their particular lino, hut who. in reality, are only semi-skilled. After