BELFAST'S PRIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 126, 21 February 1940, Page 7

BELFAST'S PRIDE

BIGGEST SHIPYARD ON EARTH When tlii* eyes of the world r,re on British industry's capacity to meet vast war requirements while maintaining her export trade, it is with special pride that Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, claims four of the largest industrial undertakings of the kind in the world. There is no bigger shipyard on earth than Bel l ast's, specially renowned for building merchantmen. Shipbuilding began there about 1790, and the late Lord Pirric's initiative was responsible for the city's present position of pre-eminence. The largest composite linen mill in the world carries out at Belfast all the processes in making the famous Irish linen. The chairman of the company is the Hon. G. H. 3lulholland, Speaker of the Ulster House of Commons. What is now the largest works in the world was started in Belfast in 17.18, and its output of all kinds of rope and cordage had reach ed about 13,000 tons a year when war broke out. In Belfast, too. are the largos! makers in tlie world of machinery of all kinds for the preparation, spinning, widening and weaving of flax, hemp, jute and other fibrej>. This firm are also the only makers in the world able to create in their own workshops a complete plant, from the machine dealing with the raw material lo the latest machinery used in "weaving and finishing processes.