NAVAL BUILDING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 824, 24 May 1910, Page 5

NAVAL BUILDING.

CHINESE ORDER FOR GERMANY. Uy Telegraph—Press Association—CoDyriehi Berlin, May 22. According to' Berlin newspapers, Chint has ordered two cruisers and twenty Ac stroyers from Germany. THE AUSTRIAN DREADNOUGHTS. NO CREDITS. Vienna, May 22. Dr. do Bilinski, tho Austrian Financi Minister, reiterated in tho Reichsratl: that tho Government had no knowledge of the building of Dreadnoughts. Th< only outlay the Government was con cerned in was that in connection with the 1911 programme. Correspondents in Vienna explain thai tho suggestion is that the builders an working' as a speculation, but say thai that excuse is valueless, as the Govern ment furnished them with the plans. [The Parliamentary credits have no' been granted, but it is stated that tin building of two Dreadnoughts in Austria Hungaipr has nevertheless begun. Th< suggestion that the builders are actiuf solely on a, speculative basis is dis counted by the fact that tho plans wore prepared by Herr Popper, the chief naval designer to the Stabiliraento Tocnieo ai Trieste. It is estimated that the Dread noughts cannot be completed before 1913 some accounts say 1911.] UNITED STATES DREADNOUGHT, PROGRAMME. ATTEMPT TO REDUCE IT BY HALF (Rec/May 23, 10.40 p.m.) London, May 23. According to tho Washington correspondent of "The Times," tho twoDreadnought programme of tho United States (which represents only half of th« annual Dreadnought programme a« originally proposed by President Boose velt) is in danger of curtailment in the Senate, where an attempt is being made, on grounds of-economy, to substitute out Dreadnought for two'. BUILDING BOOM IN BRITAIN. GERMAN COMPETITION. 4 British and Gorman firms are competing strongly for foreign warship orders, Chinese Naval Commission souk little time ago visited Britain, Germany, and other European countries, and was received with special marks of favour bj the Kaiser, notwithstanding his wellknown, appreciation of tho Yellow.Peril, According to advices recently received ir •Sydney, China's naval reconstruction scheme involves the building of two armoured cruisers and two protected cruisers—making four cruisers in all, besides smaller craft—and it was added that twe of the cruisers are now being built iu Lugland. This, taken, with to-day's cablegram, • would indicate that China is dindiug her order. Germany, who takes a special interest in the Near East, was very sore at not getting the Turkish war-ships-orders for which have been placed in England—and may find some emollient m tho action of tho I'arther East. Britain and Germany for their own purposes have to maintain huge naval construction works, and foreign orders are important to regularise the supply ol work, especially in slack times,. t At present, however, iiritish shipbuilding and engineering industries are in for one of the biggest "booms" they nave known for a long .time. In.April the naval correspondent of the London bvemng News' wrote: "The failure of German firms to capture the contract for the building of the new Turkish Navy xrom -British yards calls' attention to the enormous amount of work of this kind secured for our workmen' recently. At tho present inomerit there-, aro under construction for the British Navy four battleships and two armoured cruisers, all over 18,500 tons in displacement. The keels of threo more ships, on which work has already commenced, hove been laid down, to be followed on April 13 by tho lhaincs-built ship, tho Thunderer." A little later in the year we shall see two great Dreadnought cruisers laid down for the Australian and Now Zealand fleets, and by tho close of the financial year 1910-11 the five armoured ships provided for m tho new naval programme will nave been commenced. Foreign Dreadnoughts, Thus during the year no fewer than seventeen armoured ships will be under construction for tho British Empire alone, and every week occupied in the construction of each of these ship 3 means the employment of no fewer than seven thousand men at an average weekly wage of thirty-five shillings. But this does not exhaust the armoured construction in which British shipbuilders will be engaged. Of the three JJreadnoughts for which the Brazilian Government has provided one has already been completed, but Wo others are still under. construction. Then the Turkish Government is reported to have placed with British firms orders for three armoured ships at a total cost of .£5,000,000. Portugal is entering into a reorganisation of her naval forces, from which llessrs. Armstrong, Whitworth, and Co. ami Messrs. A. I'. Yarrow and Co. are Both expected to profit. Thorneycrofts are already buildipg a mine-layer for tho Portuguese Navy. "In addition to these armoured ships there is a large number of. small cruisers building and. provided for. "Tho following list shows the firms engaged in the enormous output of fighting shipping:— "llessrs Armstrong, AVhitworth, and Co , Elswick, Newcastle Monarch, British battleship, to be completed March 1912; Hio de Janeiro, Brazilian battleship, to be completed 1912; a Turkish battleship, not yet laid down; Newcastle, cruiser; Weymouth, cruiser; Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, cruisers, for Brazil.

Messrs Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, BarrowPrinccss Roj-a'l Dreadnought cruiser, to bo completed Jlaroh 1912; Livorpool and Dartmouth, cruisers; Sao Paolo, Brazilian battleship, to be completed end of 1910; a Turkish battleship, not yet laid down.

"Messrs John Brown and Co., Clydebank, Glasgow:—A Colonial Dreadnought -cruiser, not yet laid down; a Turkish armoured cruiser, not vet laid down; Bristol, cruiser; Beagle, Bulldog, Foxhound, Acorn, Alarm, and Brisk, torpedo-boat destroyers. "Messrs Beardmore and Co., Glasgow: —Conqueror, battleship, to be . completed March' 1912; Gloucester and Falmouth,' cruisers. "The Fairfield Shipbuilding Co., Glasgow:—A Colonial Dreadnought Cruiser, not yet laid down; Glasgow, cruiser; Grasshopper, Mosquito, Scorpion, Camcleon, Comet, and Goldfinch, torpedo-boat destroyers. In addition, Palmer's Shipbuilding Co., Jarrow-on-Tyne, are building tlio battleship Hercuies; the Thames Iron Works the battleship Thunderer and the destroyer Nautilus; the London .and Glasgow Shipbuilding Company the cruiser Yarmouth and the destroyer Rattlesnake; and Scott's Shipbuilding Co., of Greenock, the battleship ColOSSVS. | The Total. "Altogether, thcro will bo under construction in tlie United Kingdom during the coming, twelvo . or eighteen months the following ships:— Total cost. Armoured ships 22 dC38,500,C00 Small criiisars '.... 22 8,500,000 Destroyers 22 9,500,000 Submarines 22 750,000 Floating dock 4 1,000,000 Other warships and Auxiliaries 1,000,000 1 .£59,250,,000 "An official estimate gives the proportion of the cost of shipbuilding which is spent in labour as 70 percent. Seventy per cent, of the above sum is £41,475,0(10. Spread over thirty mouths this means that for each of 1.10 weeks .09,03'! will bo paid out in wages, giving constant employment for that period to an average of over 182,000 Dion at thirty-five shillings a week."