On August 11th, Arthur attended the delayed commencement ceremony of the New Zealand battleship due to the slow progress of the Russian warship construction and encouraged the workers of the Royal Shipyard.
Starting with the Australasian Battleship in January, the Royal Shipyard has now successively started working on three battleships. The fastest one, the Australasian Battleship, is expected to be completed in around March or April of the following year, 1909, for the final launching test.
This is good news for Australasia, as March or April is only about half a year away.
However, even though he was looking forward to the battleship's launching test, Arthur repeatedly instructed the person in charge of the shipyard and all workers to carefully control the quality of warship construction. What Australasia needs is a powerful, excellent warship that can withstand the actual test of war, not just a showpiece.
