New Zealand's Dreadnought.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 May 1910, Page 4

New Zealand's Dreadnought.

SOME PARTICULARS The London correspondent of the West Coast Times, writing on March 18, says:— Though we do not know yofc what is to be the name of the battleship cruiser which New Zealand is presenting to the British Navy, we know now that she will be built on tho Clyde in the yards of the Fairfield Ship Building and Engineering Company, Ltd., at Govau. The first few days of the present week were occupied in consultation on the plans and tenders between the Admiralty and representatives of th States interested in the recent patriotic offers. Tenders for ship building are .somewhat less hard and fast, than for house-building and other services. Tho Admiralty, in inviting linns which are on its approved list, to make offers for the supply of a new warship, states in a general sort of way what is required. It does not make out detailed specifications, upon which the firms may take out quantities and make their estimates as in the case of earthworks. That is the function of the ship-builders .themselves. Hence we find in the list of tenders for a now warship figures which provide for possibly half a dozen varieties of the vessel which it is hoped to obtain. When the Admiralty invited tenders for the presentation ba-ttleship-cruisers on behalf of New Zealand and the Australin Commonwealth, it received several from both che Clyde and the Tyne. Sitting out reduced them to two, one from John Brown and Co., of Clydebank, and the other from tho Fairfield Company, of Govaiu The prices were different, and hence atu*e a discussion as to which country f>hou!d pay for the dearer of the two As the figure was close up to two million pounds, .Mr Hall Jones naturally felt it to be his duty to claim the lower .tender for New Zealand, and he was, of course, in consultation with the Government of New Zealand on the subject. —Eventually, the two Dominions came to an agreement, and the result is that THE LOWER TENDER is accepted by tho Admiralty on behalf of New Zealand. This does not, needless to say, mean that the Xew Zealand vessel will be an inferior one in any respect. The variation in the prices depends largely upon the particular combination of armour plating and guns upon which the tender is based. There are several contracts in connection with each of the vessels. Some of the armour plating, I understand, will be provided jointly by John Brown and Company, and Cammed, Laird and Co., and both Vickers Maxim and the Armstrong Company will participate in providing the guns. These contracts are, however, between the firms and the Admiralty, which throughout takes the place of tho principal in the matter. All that New Zealand does is to sanction the conclusion of the. contracts and be prepared when the time arrives to furnish the progress payments. All these arrangements have been completed, and the construction of the New Zealand Dreadnought will now go forward as if it were simply an ordinary order from the Admiralty. Doth the presentation Dreadnoughts will be of the Indomitable type, with the undisMrsetl improvements which have bee.i adopted since that vessel was built. Thov will he, roughly, 570 feet in length, 80 feet- beam, of 18,0000 tons displacement, and engines of 45,000 horsepower. capable of a speed of 28 knots. According tto the statement made, by Mr McKenna on Montlay, the New Zealand vessel should be ready to sail for her station in the China Seas in the middle of 1912. Two or three months may he allowed for laying down, two years for construction, and a month for the trials, the vessel going into commission in Jfily 1911. The Fairfield Company enjoys rather an unique position with regard to colonial navies and colonial warships. In 1901, during the war in South Africa, they launched tho Good Hope, the first warship presented to the navy by one of the colonies. Just last month, the first of the Australian national lloet, the Parramatta, left the ways at tho Fairfield yards, and the second vessel for the same fleet, the Warrciro, is now under . onstrnction. She will be senib out to Australia, in nieces and will be pu!fc together in the Commonwealth with AUSTRALIAN LABOUR. and with the aid of the knowledge that John Brown and Company are busy on another of tho Australia ships, the Yarra In a period of ten years, 1898-190/, the Fairfield Company has either built or engined and boilered the following vessels for the British Navy Two battleships, seven armoured cruisers, five protected cruisers, two fleet, scouts, three torpedo gunboats, and tliroe destroyers. Their merchant ships are plying the waters all over tlie world. Some of the New Zealand Shipping Company's boats were formerly 'turned out of the Fairfield yards, though of late years they have generally come from Denny's at Dumbarton. Mr McKenna told a member yesterday that the New Zealand Dreadnought would he an essential part of the British Navv and would be supplied with men bv England, 'except so far as New Zealand herself was able to supply men. The Australian ship would be manned by Australia, except where Australia herself could not furnish the men, and then England would supply them. But their pay would come from the Australian Government. At present there were about 3200 men in Australian waters and when the Australian unit was established these men would he set freo.