THE LONDON FAIR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2934, 21 November 1916, Page 4

THE LONDON FAIR

The Imperial Board of Trade, in arranging for the holding of an annual Trado Fair in London, is fighting tho Germans with a woapon of their own clevising._ Before tho war the famous Leipzic Fair used to attract buyers to Germany from all parts of the world. Fancy goods, chinaware, glassware, and toys were tho standard articles of exhibit, and tho Gorman manufacturers spared no pains or expense to get the wholesale buyers from many lands to visit the fair. Orders on a vast scale were taken while the buyers were in Leipzic, and then tho manufacturers, with a clear knowledge of what their customers wanted, would set themselves to produce tho gooTls in huge quantities, swiftly and cheaply. Tho fair had bccomo an important institution in the world of commerce, and a powerful factor in tho development of German trade.

Tho outbreak of war provided an .opportunity, •which the British lioard of Trade was quick, to seize, tor establishing a British Industries ban - . Buyers from tho Allied countries jto longer reach Lcipzic. and a/ehough neutral buyers could S° there at some hazard, tho Gcrnjan' manufacturers, hemmed in by the British blockade, could not undertake to deliver the goods. So a trade display of British made articles was arranged, and wholesalo buyers throughout tho world are being informed now that tho third "London Fair" will bo held from February 26 to March 9 of next year, while during the same period there will be a Glasgow Fair on similar lines. The scheme scarcely requires oommendation. Its advantages from the point of view of buyers and manufacturers alike are obvious. Tho trade fair performs so useful a function, indeed, that we would like to see an effort made to extend its scope by making it a travelling institution. Inter-Em-pire trado would be- assisted if a representative collection of British fancy goods, toys, glassware, ctc.. were brought to New Zealand for the benefit of wholesalo buyers who cannot sparo_ either the time or the ■money to visit London. It is to be hoped that the Imperial authorities will be able to adopt somo such means of helping British manufacturers to meet their energetic foreign competitors in the Dominion market.