H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15272, 23 June 1923, Page 5

H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND.

SENT TO THE SCRAP HEAP.

SOLD FOR £21,000. END OF GIFT CRUISER. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. LONDON, June 31. The battle cruiser New Zealand, which cost the New Zealand Government £1,700,000, was sold to a British Arm for breaking • up for £21,000. The New Zealand was not submitted to auction, but after the Washington Conference it was decided to scrap her and many other ships immediately. This glutted the market and depreciated prices.

The gift Of the New Zealand battleship by the Dominion to Great Britain was an outcome of a feeling of alarm that was created in March, 1909, by statements as to the need of greater naval strength made in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister of the day, Mr Asquith, and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr R. McKenna. Sir Joseph Ward was then Prime Minister of New Zealand, and at a Cabinet meeting on March 22, it was decided to offer, on behalf of the Dominion, to provide ttie cost o'f the immediate building and arming of a first-class battleship of the most modern type. In Great Britain the offer, which was accepted, by the Government, evoked a chorus of gratitude and approval. The action of the New Zealand Government was ratified by Parliament in the following June and later in the same year an Act was passed providing for the raising of a special loan for the building of the battleship, the total cost being limited to £2,000,000. The vessel was launched on the Clyde on July 1, 1911, the christening ceremony being performed by Lady Ward. Sir Joseph Ward was one of the speakers at the ceremony. The New Zealand has paid two visits to the Dominion, the first in 1913, and the second in 1919, when, witli Lord Jcllicoe on board, she visited the principal ports of the Dominion.