SHIPBUILDING ON THE THAMES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 158, 3 January 1912, Page 5

SHIPBUILDING ON THE THAMES

THE ADMIRALTY CONTRACTS. By Cable—Prws Association—Copyright, London, January 1. The Mayors of the riverside London boroughs and a number of Labor and Unionist members of Parliament attended the Trafalgar Square demonstration. Mr. J. W. Hills, M.P., who was upon an invalid couch, was hoisted to the piinth of the Nelson (Column, and protested against a northern firm controlling the Thames Ironworks and the men being required to abandon the shorter hours which they had enjoyed for fifteen years. AGITATION CONTINUED. Received 2, 11 p.m. London, January 2. The trade union agitation against increasing the hours of the Thames shipbuilding men continues. The receiver has written to Mr. Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, asking that the Thames Ironworks! be made Admiralty contractors without the intervention of northern firms, thus, preserving the eight hours day.

THE THAMES IRONWORKS. Mr. John W. Hope, Silverton, in a letter to the Daily Mail, on November 17, called attention to the opportunity afforded to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in relation, to the present condition of the Thames Ironworks Company.

Mr. T.'fj'd George, the writer points out, wade much capital at the election of December. 1910, in, his speeches, particularly at a meeting of Sir John Bethell's supporters! on DeMM»er 14, to the; effect that he had sccuflWfor West Ham a very important contract viz., the building of the Dreadnought Thunderer. /'At the time I stated publicly that this was nothing more or less than a bribe to catch the votes of the working men, and that unless the Government intended to give the Thames Ironworks further contracts for battleships they were committing a grievous harm upon the working classes of this district and the districts from which men had to be imported for the purpose of constructing the Thunderer."

What does Mr. Lloyd George now propose to do, the writer asks, for the working men in the district who supported him at the election referred to in good faith that he was really a friend? and what does he propose to do for the shareholders of the Thames Ironworks? Had he not forecasted the probability of further contracts, the directors of the coinpuny would not have spent the enormous sum they were forced to expend upon the necessary plant to enable them to construct a vessel of such large dimensions as the Thunderer.

It is the intention of Mr. F. B. Smart, the receiver and manager appointed by the Court of Chancery (a news agency stated), to approach the Admiralty arfd try to obtain a warship order for the Thames. Mr. Smart stated that the London County and Westminster Bank had expressed its willingness to idvance the money which the court had given him power to borrow 7 to continue the works.