Commission

SCORE OF LITTLE SHIPS FOR WESTERN PACIFIC

Four In Preparation In Australia—Launching Ceremony In Sydney

“T NAME you ‘Kovala’.” A white ribbon A was cut, a bottle of champagne, accurately swung by Mrs. James Burns (wife of the managing director of Burns Philp and Co., Ltd., agents for the Western Pacific High Commission) broke across the wooden bows, and the neat hull of the new 70-feet wooden vessel slid gracefully down the slipway of Messrs. Storey and Keers’ Balmain shipyard, and entered the sparkling waters of Sydney Harbour.

Another little ship had joined the growing fleet of the High Commission for the Western Pacific, for service in the Solomon and Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

For several weeks, Captain G. J.

Webster, representing Captain Boyes Smith, DSO and Bar, DFC, QBE (marine superintendent for has been in Sydney, putting energy and drive behind the Commission’s Australian shipbuilding programme. The construction of the “Kovala” was commenced only recently; but such admirable progress has been made that the launching became possible

in mid-January, and delivery is ex pected before the middle of 1949.

Some scores of people, at the invitation of Captain Webster and the Directors of Storey and Keers, attended the launching ceremony. They were welcomed in a neat little speech by Mr, Nash, the managing director of the firm.

In reply, Captain Webster, on behalf of the High Commission, praised the builders for the rapid progress of the construction, and their staff for excellent workmanship. As a memento of a happy occasion, he presented to Mrs. Burns a beautifully inscribed silver entree dish.

It is noted that, in addition to the “Kovala”, the following vessels are being prepared in Sydney for the WPHC: • A cargo vessel of 300 tons, named the “Nimanoa”, is being prepared for sea. She will leave for the Gilberts about the end of March.

The original “Nimanoa” was deliberately cast away in Tarawa Lagoon in December, 1941. to keep her out of the hands of the Japanese. • A new administrative vessel, 85 feet long, for the use of the Resident Com missioner in the Gilberts, is being built at Ballina, NSW. She will be ready about August. • Two small vessels, one 66 and the other 50 feet long, are being converted, for the use of the medical officers in the Solomons—the larger one for the Senior Medical Officer and the small one for the NMP at Santa Cruz Islands.

When all these vessels are assembled, the WPHC will have in use about a dozen little ships in the Solomons, and seven or eight in the Gilbert and Ellice Colony—about a score, all told.

OUR Suva Correspondent reported on January 17: WPHC, announcing the sale of the ship “Awahou” to the Union Manufacturing and Export Co. of Wellington, NZ, states that the policy of modernising the Commission’s fleet is well under way. This policy was inaugurated with the purchase of the new twin-engined motor-vessels “Tiln garu” and “Tuvalu”. . •. Another new twin-screw vessel, acquired in Australia, is expected to arrive in March or April to replace the “Awahou”: and a fourth vessel, not yet launched, is expected to arrive at Suva later in the year.