During the late 1970s Boral's gas division had three sea tankers delivering LPG to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. Although these operations were well established, Neal was concerned about the future viability of one of the ships, Fiji Gas. The Australian economy had moved into an inflationary period since the mid-1970s and crew and oil costs were on the rise, but the cargo-carrying capacity of the ship was already at maximum. Neal was travelling to Papua New Guinea on the Fiji Gas ; it was a fairly clear night and they were in the Coral Sea. Neal said to the captain on the bridge, `What would be the effect on this ship if we lengthened it by, say, fifty feet?'. The captain replied, 'Well, it would improve it. It would have better sea- keeping qualities, and, of course, more capacity could only be an advantage.' In 1978 the Fiji Gas was consequently lengthened by about fifteen metres, done by cutting the ship in half and adding a new section in the middle, incorporating an additional 500-cubic-metre--capacity LPG tank. Neal recalls, `The whole project was very well planned, both by the personnel of the Gas Group and the shipbuilders who prefabricated the new section. The cutting and fitting were carried out in dry dock in the matter of a few days. Gordon Leslie, General Manager of Boral Gas, coordinated the project.'   Fiji Gas sailing into Sydney Harbour in 1972 before being lengthened (1972 Annual Report).       »»