ON THE CLYDE 245 
a width of 20 ft. and a depth of 9 ft., has dry and wet docks 
for trimming the miniature ships, modelled in wax, which 
are about 20 ft. in length. Their weights are automatically 
registered. The carriage from which the model is towed 
along the tank runs on rails fixed on the side walls, and is 
driven by electricity. 
No yards in the world are better equipped than those on 
the Clyde, with their spacious accommodation, labour-saving 
appliances and fine machinery; and nothing in recent 
experience tends to show that they will be outstripped either 
at home or abroad by any other firms in the construction 
of the most varied and expensive types of naval architecture. 
Clyde builders never stick at difficulties, and though they 
may be beaten in price by the North-east Coast in the con- 
struction of common tramp-boats and light engines, they 
hold their own for low prices in high-class work. Though 
the district is well supplied with firms able to furnish all the 
necessary auxiliaries required for shipbuilding, such as cap- 
stans, windlasses, steering gear, and the various types of 
pumps for engines and similar appliances, many of the 
shipbuilding firms themselves lay out their yards for such 
special work. They have established departments for saw- 
milling, cabinet-making, brass-founding, copper-working, 
galvanising and the construction of electrical appliances. 
For ordinary work ‘most of these auxiliaries are actually 
produced in the Clyde and Glasgow districts ; especially 
in the latter, where land for engineering works is more easily 
and cheaply obtained than on the crowded banks of the 
river. As to Admiralty work, however, the specifications 
frequently require appliances made in other parts of the 
country by firms who are on the Admiralty list for those 
classes of machinery. 
As the greater part of the cost of engine-building 
and boiler-making arises from the labour employed, the