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A $1,500,000 Drydock To Be Built In Toronto Mal Ships Larg< Build Government -Will Repair _;e Vessels — Plan Calls For 16 Ship ways Toronto is to have another dry dock and shipbuilding yard which, when completed, will cost in the neighborhood of $1,500,000. The shipyard will be known as the Deepwater Shipbuilding Construction Co. and no shares will be sold to the public. The enterprise is being financed entirely by private interests, according to R. C. Hughes, president of the company. The shipyard will be located at the turning basin, if present plans materialize, and will have one of the best shipbuilding sites in Toronto. On this land, which is now vacant and was the old Elias Rogers Coal Co. dock, Mr. Hughes said he could lay down sixteen shipways at once. If certain contracts are awarded to the new company by the Federal Government, the project will be launched immediately, but, failing this, it will be commenced early this summer.' A short time ago, Mr. Hughes interviewed the Government at Ottawa regarding a contract for building some of the wooden ships, known as the "Fairmile" type, and, while nothing definite has been done by the Government officials, overtures have been made, and the prospects for a contract are considered to be good. These ships are about 112 feet in length. READY TO START PROJECT However, Mr. Hughes pointed out that his company was not relying on government contracts for shipbuilding. Whether he is given contracts or not, the company has been formed, is now operating, and has very definite plans for starting the project. Mr. Hughes is a Cylde-born bey, who spent his early years in the shipyards there, and he has associated with him men who know the shipbuilding business from A to Z, he says—naval architects who spent years in the yards at Portsmouth, England, men from John Brown and]_____^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sons, men from Belfast and other. shipbuilding centres in the Old Land, ment of this factory here and F. J. Mr. Hughes pointed out that ship- 1 Sutton, manager of the Keenan yards said there were no experi- Woodenware Co., confirmed the enced shipbuilding men available, transaction, and then spiked this contention by showing a file of 350 applications for employment from men, all experienced in shipbuilding, and all un- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ employed at the present time. He said that 300 of the applications came from men living in Toronto. "They are men who came to Canada and now have a few grey hairs, and the shipyards will not employ them for that reason. But they are the men we want, men of experience who know how things are done. No man can buy experience; he must work to get it," he said. SUGGESTS CONVOY SHIP The president of the Deepwater Shipbuilding Construction Co. advanced a plan for building a ship similar to a destroyer, not as fast and a little beamier, with two mosquito boats aboard which would be launched by catapults. This, he contended, could be used to excellent advantage for protecting convoys. When the dry dock is built it will be sufficient to accommodate a ship of 700 feet length, "and that is the largest vessel I figure will come here when the deep waterway is completed," Mr. Hughes asserted. It will be properly equipped and ready to repair or take care of alterations on any ship up to this length. Toronto's present dry dock can accommodate only the canal-sized vessels. The addition of such a dry dock as Mr. Hughes describes will be a great asset to the port of Toronto, especially for the larger, upper lake type vessels, and will do much probably to bring these vessels here for wintering where repairs can then be done during the winter months. Mr. Hughes intimated that should the Dominion Government fail to give his company contracts, he could get others from Washington to build ships for the United States' Navy. ANOTHER PLANT Confirmation that Owen Sound would have a new shipbuilding and silica plant was revealed when D. G. Dobson of Midland, signed a lease for the Keenan property in that city. Negotiations between Mr. Dobson and Toronto associates have been pending for some time. R. V. Malloy, industrial commissioner, was in Ottawa but Charles Cum-ming, president of the Owen Sound Board of Trade verified the statement that deliberations had been under way regarding the establish- Three bodies enter into the deal, the city of Owen Sound being involved as well as Keenan's and the Midland firm. Difficulties with regards to water rights desired by Keenan's which the city held for taxes have been cleared up. The Midland concern will build ships, maintain a wrecking business and set up a silica plant, the silica to be obtained from island properties in Georgian Bay controlled by Mr. Dobson. Included in the equipment to be transferred from the Midland site will be a drydock, wooden scows, derricks, punch and shears and other wrecking apparatus. Mr. Dobson recently released his option on the leased land where the shipbuilding plant in Midland was being erected. It is understood conditions and offers by the town of Midland were unsuitable to Mr. Dobson and his associates and that the offers extended by Owen Sound and the Board of Trade proved greatly satisfactory from many standoints, notable of which is the fact that Owen Sound is 100 miles nearer the silica quarries and the Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Huron shipping lanes. Employes required by the silica plant are estimated at 35 while an additional 50 will be needed for shipbuilding operations should government contracts be immediately forthcoming. COURT ACTED SPEEDILY Investigations into the sinking of the steamers Anna C. Minch and Novadoc, heard at Osgoode Hall before Mr. Justice F. H. Barlow, were speeded up, and no time was wasted by Frank Wilkinson, K.C., counsel for the Federal Transport Board. The inquiry was thorough in every respect yet speedy. One official from the Department of Transport arrived in Toronto to attend the trial and found all that was left for him to hear was the summing up of the case by Mr. Wilkinson. Inquiry into the sinking of the steamer Northton last winter, while she was berthed at Port Colborne with a storage load >of grain, is to begin on March 4, it was learned today, and the hearing with respect to, the Rice-Rammacher collision, off j Sarnia, is scheduled for April 1. The Northton hearing should be very interesting, but there will be some technical detail submitted which may be rather incomprehensible to lay listeners. RECALLS THRILLING RESCUE. Capt. Frank Bonter, pioneer resident of Penetang, and a master mariner on the Great Lakes over 50 years ago, is celebrating his 88th birthday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. N. Vandervoort. He recalls his greatest adventure on the Great Lake's, when he helped rescue Capt. Jimmy McSherry when the schooner Sheridan Belle grounded in a terrific storm near his father's farm at Weller's Bay on Lake Ontario, 90 miles east of Toronto. The schooner broke up in mountainous waves. Setting out with others in a fishing skiff, Capt. Bonter picked up Captain McSherry, who had leaped overboard and was clinging to a spar. Before the skiff battled through to shore the mast and oars were lost. uf 'Mt "fL