NEED OF MORE SHIPS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2957, 21 December 1916, Page 5

NEED OF MORE SHIPS

REPORTED TOTAL WAR SET-BACK OE 4,220,000 TONS. In a recent'article in its shipbuilding edition, the "Journal 1 , of Commerce," Liverpool, gives the following figures as representing "the .measure of total setback which our mercantile marine has suffered" during the war:— Gross Tons. Hindrance to new construction 1,700,000 War losses 1,520,000 Excessive depreciation 1,000,000 Total 4,220,000 After quoting from Lloyd's Register Shipbuilding Returns that the total shipbuilding for the present year to September 30 is 200,000 gross tons, which compares with a. normal output of 1,000,000 tens for tho same period, the "Journal of Commerce" says: "Everyone claiming any g&ueral knowledge of the situation is well aware that many more ships could be turned out'without at all interfering with the more urgent requirements of any other section of our fighting machinery. The shipyards of tho country and tho supplies of labour and material they to urgently require are.being wasted at a most critical period of our history by the grip of officialdom. Tho shipbuilding industry needs one thing to put it right—namely, an autocrat, one strong man to govern everything; to sec that tho available supplies aro not frittered away, to ensure that the man who can best build big ships is given big ships to build and not tov shins. Report has it that the number of officials is still growine, and from being controlled establishments our shipyards are becoming hopelessly over-controlled. . .

The shipbuilding work in Ibis country will be carried on efficiently only under a dictate!'."