BUILDING FOR THE AUSTRALIAN NAVY.
[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I enclose herewith an extract from The Shipbuilding and Shipping Record of July 16th with reference to naval shipbuilding in Australia, which should, I think, be of great public interest. One unfortunately sees very little of such reports in the daily Press, but they are more common in the technical papers, some most instructive articles having appeared recently in the above-mentioned publication (I believe) relative to the demands of the dockers, &c., in Australasia. These were dealt with to some extent in the daily Press, but not, as far as I am aware, in anything like such detail.
Referring to the enclosed article, the points of particular interest are, I think, (1) "` The Government stroke' has become so general under the time-payment system that in many cases the men are doing not more than a third of the normal amount of work," and (2) the statement of the head of the Federated Unions to the effect that "piecework is dead and buried as far as Australian workmen are concerned." Both these remarks bear witness to the usual Trade Union artificial restriction of labour. Apparently, both in Australia and New Zealand the Trade Unions govern the country to all intents and purposes, the result being that limitation of labour is rife, or, in other words, the labouring classes are impoverishing themselves as well as their countries as much as it is in their power to do so.
It must be evident to the meanest intellect that labour is the source of all real wealth, and without labour you will have no wealth. For instance, the possession of any amount of land, mines, or any other property is of no account without labour to develop it; hence any limitation of labour is a direct loss, primarily to the labourers and secondarily to the com- munity. In fact, labour is the only asset that can ever be really lost to the world in general. In advocating Colonial preference Tariff Reformers are suggesting artificially assisting these people by means similar in all essentials to their own stultifying tactics, i.e., artificial limitation.—I am, Sir, &c.
"A remarkable report on the Government dockyard at Cockatoo Island, where a second-class cruiser and three destroyers are being built for the Australian navy, has been submitted to the Commonwealth Minister of Defence by Mr. J. King-Salter, who was recently appointed general manager of the yard. Several of the statements made by Mr. King-Salter exceed in candour and emphasis any of the criticisms hitherto passed upon the arrange-. ments made by Australia for its first experiment in warship con- struction. It will be remembered that the Fisher Government was strongly urged by its own naval advisers not to purchase the Cockatoo Island yard from New South Wales, and that this advice was ignored. The yard was bought for something over 43800,000, and a few months later a sum of 43175,000 was voted for improve.. ments to its plant. The idea of the local naval authorities was that the Government should build a new yard, which could have been satisfactorily equipped for less than was spent in the purchase of the old one, and that in the meantime the vessels required to complete the Australian naval unit should be built in Great Britain. The chief points in Mr. King-Salter's report may be summarized as follow :-
1. In present conditions at the dockyard, warship building is very largely futile : the vessels under construction cannot be completed until half of theft
effective life has been concluded—they will take nearly five years to build instead of two. 2, Hundreds of thousands of pounds are being lost every year in consequence of the wasteful methods adopted in the yard. 3. The supply of skilled labour falls short of urgent requirements by several hundred men. 4. The' Government stroke' has become so general under the time payment system that in many cases the men are doing not more than a third of the normal amount of work. 5. The existing rate of payment adds 30 per cent. to the cost of constructing ships and at least a year to the time taken in building them. 6. The equipment of the yard is still so deficient that, fur instance, vessels
could not be launched, even if they were ready, without very considerable constructional work and heavy machinery cannot be landed on the island at present, because of the absence of sufficiently powerful cranes.
The three destroyers were laid down on August 1, 1912, and the cruiser 'Brisbane ' on October 1 in the same year. This was a few months prior to the purchase of the yard by the Commonwealth Government. The destroyers were to have been completed by October 1, 1914, and the cruiser two months later. It now appears that the cruiser cannot be launched before the end of this year, or January, and it is possible that she may not be launched earlier than March. At least another year or 15 months will be required for her completion. The destroyers cannot be launched before the ' Brisbane,' but they will not take so long to complete. It seems, therefore, that the earliest date at which, in present circumstances, the four vessels can be added as combative units to the Australian navy will be the middle of 1916, and it is probable that this date will be exceeded. Indeed, a safe estimate of the time which will have been occupied in the construction of the vessels from start to finish would not be less than from four and a half to five years. A sister ship to the Brisbane' (the 'Lowestoft ') was completed in Great Britain in 21 months. The time occupied in building the Australian cruiser may be two and a half times that taken in constructing her British counterpart, and twice the original estimate. The effective life of a modern warship is now reckoned by some
authorities at 10 years, although it may perform useful service for another five. At the present rate of progress, nearly half of the effective life of the Brisbane' will have passed away by the time she is completed; or, to put the matter on a financial basis, the Commonwealth Government will get only £400,000 worth out of the £700,000 which the cruiser will have cost in capital expenditure. The equipment of the yard can be substantially improved at an early date, but the deficiency in the supply of skilled labour,
the waste of time which has been referred to, and the method of paying the men are more difficult questions. A large number of boilermakers, riveters, and other ship workers will either have to be imported or trained. Australian trade unions, as past experience has shown, are opposed both to the importation of artisans and to piece-work. The latter, the Minister of Defence is told, sill have to be adopted at least to some extent if the construction of navy vessels at the yard is to be done within reasonable time. It is estimated that the piece-work system would increase the men's wages by about 50 per cent. and diminish the delay in building ships by a year or more ; on the four vessels now under construction it would probably effect an aggregate saving of about £400,000. Mr. King-Salter further reports that the amount recently voted for improvements to the dockyard is far from adequate. According to estimates now in the hands of the Minister of Defence, an expendi- ture of not less than £500,000 will be required for new machinery and other equipment. 'Piece-work is dead and buried as far as Australian workmen are concerned,' says the secretary of the federated unions whose members are employed at the dockyard, in a criticism of the general manager's report. Nor will the speeding-up of men working on time rates at the yard be permitted. According to this union official, repeated requests have been made to the Government, but without success, for an assurance that if the Iron Trades' Federation supplied the extra boilermakers and riveters wanted at the yard they would be given continuous employment. He denies, as was to be expected, that the men deliberately restrict the amount of their labour. As for the
generally slow progress of the building operations—well, that, from the trade union point of view, is merely the result of a Government blunder in estimating the time required for the work."—The Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, July 16th.
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