The Times of Monday published a letter from Lord Inchoape
in which he fully bore out what we said in the Spe,etalor of March 16th about the National Shipyards on the Wye. We pointed out that, according to our information, the Government had been concen- trating their attention on the Beachley Yard, which had to be created on virgin soil, while very little was being done at the Chepstow Yard, which had been taken over from its private owners in a state approaching completion. Lord Inchcape, who was one of the founders of the Chepstow Yard, tells us that if the Chepstow Yard had not been taken over by the Government, two vessels of ten thousand tons each would by this time have been well on their way to the water. These two ships would have been built on slips that were to be finished, according to the private plans, by October, 1917. Two other slips would have been ready now ; two more would have been ready by next July ; and the remaining two by next October.
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