The announcement at the end of March that Government aid would be forthcoming for British shipping has already resulted in a far-reaching revival in the shipbuilding industry. The amount of new tonnage ordered in the month of April for instance, was practically equal to the whole of the mercantile shipping under construction in British shipyards at the beginning of March. Nearly 200 merchant vessels of a total of over 850,000 tons gross were ordered in April, and other contracts are still in course of negotiation. Though construction for the British Navy is in full swing, British shipbuilders are confident they can meet this new rush of orders for merchant shipping, and it is estimated that before the end of the year the amount of merchant shipping-construction in hand in the United Kingdom will exceed 1,500,000 tons. The ability of British shipbuilders to cope with the demand for new tonnage, both for Admiralty orders and for commercial shipping, naturally depends to a large extent on their being able to obtain adequate supplies of steel In this respect the prospects are good, since the upward trend in British iron and steel production continues. During the first three months of this year, seventeen more blast furnaces have been put into commission, and others are likely to be restarted in the near future. Immense new steel works with the most modern equipment have recently begun operations in Wales, and the steel production-capacity of the country in general is much greater than it was two. years 1 i sao—jç5rð
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