SHIPBUILDING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 288, 29 August 1908, Page 5

SHIPBUILDING.

LABOUR STRIFE ANP UNEMPLOYMENT.

ORPERS LOST. THROUGH FAILURE TO GUARANTEE DEI4VJ)IIY. ~ (DT TBLEGRArn—PEESS ASSOCIATION^-CQPrniQ.in',) (Roc, Augyst 28, 9.15 p.m.) London, August 28. Sir Chrjptopliei' Furness, Liberal member of t|i« House of Commons for Hartlepool, Pl'd head <jf Messrs. Furness, Wjtliy, and Company (shipbuilders), and of the ''Furness Line" of steamers, speakjng git West Hartle.-, pool, said til lit owing to labour troubles, orders for seven ships had beqn ■ lost, as the result of hjs inability to guarantee delivery by a certain date, These orders, added Sir C. Furness, would have provided work for tho shipyards and engineering and steel works, and employment for considerably more men than werg now unemployed in Hartlepool and West Hartlepool.' He hoped that the cheapness of money would tend to hagten a return of good trade. DECREASE OF 451,000 TONS. The tonnage under construction in the United Kingdom at the end of June last was 799,178, being 451,000 less than tI)Q figure for Juno 30, 1907, and being tho lpwepfi recorded total since 1896. Sir Christopher Furness is one of the largest shipowners in the world, and'one of the richest men in the House of Common. Born West Hartlepogl in 1852, and educated privately, he married at the age of twenty-four, and set about the founding of his immense business. He is now the moving spirit in five of the largest shipbuilding works in the north of England, and in three engineering concerns; in addition to which he is a colliery proprietor and ironmaster,"/' With these'.responsibilities, it is not difficult to understand that ha is one of the most extensive employers of labour jn the country. He owns over 30,000 acres, being Lord of "the Manors" of Cundall and Grantley, and patron of. seven livings. '