The Industries Committee of the Irish Parliamentary Party strongly resent
the demand of the Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers that the Government should prevent the erection in Cork of the Ford Motor Tractor Factory. They note that no serious opposition was raised to Ford undertakings in Manchester or the South of England, and flatly traverse the con- tention that motor-tractors will be required only during the period of the war, or that national interests require them to be imported ready-made. The arguments of the British manufacturers, am summarized in a carefully balanced article in the Westminster Gazette, appear to be threefold—first, that the Ford factory cannot be got Into full swing for at least a year ; second, that to bring materials to build and equip the factory at Cork would occupy space better used in carrying foodstuffs ; and third, that the Government are starving our workshops of the labour necessary to produce the kind of machinery best adapted to home requirements.
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