ADVENT OF WOMEN NAVVIES

Taihape Daily Times, 15 January 1919, Page 6

ADVENT OF WOMEN NAVVIES

Commenting upon the remarkable | work of converting the waste land of ' Hog Island into a huge American shipbuilding plant in a few months' I time, Engineering calls attention to a I similar piece of work done on a smaller scale "somewhere on the northeast coast," of England. Here a piece of ground that lay below highwater level has been converted into a shipyard of eight berths. The work was started in March, and the first ship, it was expected, would be launj ched in November. Female labour is ' being used very extensively in the construction of the yard. Women feed the concrete mixer; they lay and ballast the rails;' they fill the low ' ground;'' they excavate the site of the wet' dock, which will .accommodate several vessels simultaneously; and, in fact, undertake all kinds of work which have hitherto been , : deemed quite unsuitable for their sex. A canteen capable of feeding 2000 workers has been erected A number of model ! cottages are built, and also a i hostel to accommodate 1000 men.