FLOATING DOCK

Hokitika Guardian, 17 December 1931, Page 3

FLOATING DOCK

ENGINEER ARRIVES. IMPRESSED WITH HARBOUR. “We were very pleased to get the order,” said Mr W. P. Stafford, engineer to Swan, Hunter and WigJiam Richardson, Ltd., shipbuilders, Walls-■end-on-Tyne, who was in charge of the building of the Wellington Jubilee floating dock which is now on its way to New Zealand. Mr Stafford arrived in Wellington on ’Sunday by the 'Rotorua in order to superintend operations when the dock arrives in the • narbour. Mr Stafford said to a “Dominion” reporter on nis 'arrival that things in the shipbuilding trade in England were very quiet at present, and, naturally, in the face of keen competition, his firm was particularly pleased at getting the dock contract The dock was truly an all-British one—it was wholly built sof British materials by British workmen. “It is a jolly good, job, and a cheap one, too,” he said. 'Mr Stafford was very much impressed with Wellingon harbour. The morning was a perfect one, the sea being as smooth as glass, and the harbour could scarcely have been seen to better advantage. He said he . had visited many places in. the world, including Rio'de Janeiro, but could not remember seeing any harbour to equal that of Wellington. ‘ With such a fine

harbour, it was ■ essential that Wellington should possess a floating dock, and now that that need was supplied, it would be a tremendous acquisition to the port. During a life-long experience in the shipbuilding world , Mr 'Stafford has built warships, liners and docks. He had an interesting time in Russia during the war, when he superintended tile building of a dock at Archangel. (Munitions were urgently required, and it was found that many of the boats were breaking their propellers in the ice-infested waters. Therefore it was ■essential that they should have a dock to carry out repairs. The job was completed in very quick time—in 14 months—-And the work, with the temperature 50 degrees below zero at times, was extremely arduous. Mr Stafford, in conclusion, said that he was convinced that things were beginning to look up in England. Ho based his opinion on the fact that the coal industry was picking .up. “That is a good sign,” Mr Stafford added, “for when coal looks up, everything else follows.”