FORD’S FLEET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 19 May 1925, Page 9

FORD’S FLEET.

THE OLD FOUR, HUNDRED. , „ WILL SCRAP THE LUT. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received May 19, 12.50 p.m. . NEW YORK, May 18. A telegram from Detroit says that Mr. Ford proposes to scrap four hundred steel ships of the United States Shipping Board, using the materials for automobile construction, provided that his offer to purchase the vessels was accepted. Mr. Ford, in an interview, declared that he did not intend to operate a commercial fleet. He said : “I am willing to pay the Government what the ships are worth, and if I get them I will scrap them to the last ounce of iron, steel, and brass.” Mr. Ford estimated that it would cost half a million dollars to tow the ships to Detroit, another half million to dismantle them, and it would employ one thousand men. He declared that he might buy a limited number of larger and better constructed ships for use in delivering automobiles to foreign countries, but he asserted that these vessels would not be common carriers, merely bringing back enough sugar, fruit, and other commodities to make the return voyage pay. He would convert such ships into oil burners. — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

SOME FOR, THE MELTING POT. OTHERS'TO CARR Y CARS. Received Malv 19, 11.30 a.m. NEW YORK. May 18. Mr. Ford, explaining hi,si offer to buy four hundred of the Shipping Board’s vessels, says that, he proposed throwing them into the melting pot and make more oars,. He might, use about twenty for transporting the oars ovenseas. He has no intention of entering the shipping business. —Sydney Sun Cable.