POLITICAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 18 September 1917, Page 3

POLITICAL.

SUPERANNUATED WARSHIP. ACQUIRED BY DOMINION. There is a possibility that H.M.S. Torch, one of the oldest ships in the Royal Navy, may be patched up again and made sound enough to have an extended period of £ usefulness. Prior to the war the Torch had been cruising about the Pacific. When war broke out the Torch took cover in Wellington Harbour, and has been tied up there ever since. Mr Hndmarsh asked in the House whether there was any proposal to put the ship to any other use. The Hon. G. W. Russell said that the ship had been taken over by the New Zealand Government, and had been renamed Rama j Maori for Torch. The proposal was that the vessel should be used in place of the Hinemoa, which, by reason of age, ought to be laid aside. A report by the Department .estimated that it would require £IO,OOO to change the Torch from her present condition to make the vessel suitable to replace the Hinemoa. Mr C H Poole: It will be money thrown away; enough to buy a new ship, Mr Russell said that as £IO,OOO had been on the Estimates for the purpose of buying a vessel as a substitute for the Hinemoa, it was proposed to ask the Minister for Finance to agree that thi s vote be transferred to make the alterations to the Rama and use her for the coastal services done by the Hinemoa.