Shipyard to Change Hands Next Monday

On Monday next the Playfair interests will ale over control of the Ogdensburg Marine Railway, Limited, formerly known as the St. Lawrence Marine Railway, Limited, information to that effect having been revealed yesterday by Frank M. Ross at Montreal. The sale was announced recently by George Hall Corporation, former owners.

Negotiations for the sale of Canadian Vickers Limited, of Montreal to Messrs. Drury and Company, investment bankers, and the James Playfair interests are well advanced, according to an authorized statement given out yesterday afternoon by V.M. Drury, president of Drury and Company.

The financial house, which is handling the deal, has placed a proposition before the shipbuilding, ship repairing and manufacturing firm, but this, it was said, has not yet been accepted. It is understood, however, that there is every possibility of the transfer being consummated, as it was learned some 10 to 14 days ago that preliminary overtures for the purchase had been made.

Canadian Vickers, Limited, which is a subsidiary of he well-known English shipbuilding firm of Vickers, Limited, has constructed and launched a number of steamers, including the Mikula Seleaninovitch, the 3,575-ton ice-breaker, some time known as the J.D. Hazen, and now the Mikula, and twelve steamers for the Canadian Government Merchant Marine. Of more recent date they have secured large contracts for the construction of structural steel, and are engaged in building aircraft for the Canadian Government and commercial concerns.

Asked if the change in ownership would have any effect on the personnel at the plant, Mr. Drury said he thought it would continued to be operated under the same administration which has done so much to place the company’s affairs on a paying basis. “If there was not every possibility of Mr. George Bar, managing director of Canadian Vickers, Limited, remaining on as the firm’s guiding official, it is likely that our firm and the Playfair interests would have given more than ordinary consideration to the purchase of the company,” Mr. Drury declared.

In all probability the name “Canadian Vickers,” will be retained with its passing into other hands.