BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 80, 28 December 1917, Page 10

BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR

THE FIGHTER TRADE EFFORTS OF BRITISH MANU- . FACTURERS The next British Industries Fair will be opened in London on the last Holiday in February. The purpose and scope of tin's fiiir are fairly well known by this time to British people. Before the war Germany used to attract buyers from all parts of the world to the great Loipzic Fair, where her manufacturers displayed samples of the fancy goods that they were prepared to manufacture. Inducements of many kinds were offered wholesale buyers to attend this fair. The manufacturers did not hesitate to spend money on entertainment, and in return they received big orders and learned what articles were going to be in demand. Then they concentrated on the production of the chosen lines in huge quantities at the lowest possible price. The scheme admittedly was of very great assistance to German industry. When , " the war broke out and the British Fleet cut Germany off from most af her accustomed markets, the British Hoard of Trado set itself to assist British manufacturers to supply the goods that Germany had been in the h.i'uiu of exporting, not merely to the United Kingdom, but to other parts of the Empire, and to neutral and Allied countries. ■ Tho holding of a British'lndustries Fair was one of the means devised by the board, and the fair was so. definitely successful that it has been made an annual .fixture. It is not a public exhibition. Invitations to the fair ore issued by the Board of Trade, and admission is restricted to bona fide wholesale buyers in the trades concerned. Its success may bo measured by the fact that last year tho Board of Trade, after arranging for accommodation at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Imperial Institute, had to cut down exhibitors' applications for space by as nuieh as 60 per cent. British manufacturers are fully alivo to the importance of the fair.

The 1.9.18 fair is to b.e lield in premises provided by tlie London Dock Authority. Some uloa of the size of the. warehouse that is to ho used can bo gathered from the fart that its area vvnnlcl b n sufficient to accommodate two full-sized Busby football fields. Tho, fair is to be restricted to the following trades:—Earthenware and china, glass, fancy Roods, paper, stationery and printinp. toys and eamos. Jlanv of the articles that will be shown will be those the British manufacturers arc prepared, to supply for the 1919 Qlinstmas trade. . . 'Hie raoid growth pf this fair ought, to convince everybody that even in war time, when uiiexprnnlrd demands are being made upon Uritish industry in the production of munitions, the British manufacturers are prepared to hold their own in the worltVs markets. The Roods tlmfc "'ill be exhibited at this great fair will have been produced by trades that are at tho same time bearino- their full share or the burden connected with the manufacture of munir tions of all kinds. The factories and workshous are turning out war equipment of'all kinds on a scale thnt was regarded three years atrn as far beyond the capacity of the nation, nnd vet at the same time thev are re*dv to oner the markets of the world .the goods tl, n i: thpoiiemy countries can no longer scH abroad.