LONDON DOCKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1938, Page 7

LONDON DOCKS

MAGNIFICENT TABLE MODEL LONDON, March 5. A great public, corporation, the Port of London Authority, owning property valued at £38,000,000, are inviting the public to visit Trinity Square for a free lecture and demonstration of a magnificent table model of the Port of London.

The model is a massive affair, like a glass-topped billiard table. At one end, where the demonstrator stands, is a battery of knobs and switches to control the panoramic model and illuminate various features as required. The Port is shown in three sections, which are brought into view on an endless band driven by electricity. Fourteen miles of the river and a docks area of more than four thousand acres are thus shown in miniature —on a scale of 150 feet to the inch. The journey from Tower Bridge to Tilbury could occupy several hours, but by judicious selection, it is compressed into about 20 minutes. A typical day in the life of the Port is depicted, with a hundred and thirty ships in this part of the river, not to mention scores of tugs, lighters and sailing barges modelled with as much care as the larges liners at Tilbury. Facts flow from the demonstrator’s lips as tiny lights illuminate warehouses or dock entrances. At Millwall is a granary storing sufficient to supply London’s needs for a week—a mere 24,000 tons. At the Royal Victoria Dock are sheds holding millions of pounds worth of tobacco, and at the Royal Albert Docks a quarter of a million carcasses of New Zealand mutton always are available.