BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 57, 1 December 1920, Page 10

BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR

GREAT NATIONAL ENTERPRISE. Tlie "British Industries Fair, of 1921, is to bo held in London's White City, and months ago it became evident that this exhibition ground, with an area of 104 acres, was not going to have any sjiace to spare when the exhibition was opened. Each year 6inco 1915, when tho first fair was held in a single hall in. London, has seen an enormous expansion of this enterprise, and the Industries Fair may be regarded now ns a firmly established and highly important factor in the trade of Great Britain. Buyers from all over the world appreciate tho opportunity to see just what the manufacturers have to offer them, the manufacturers find it to their advantage to get their orders in bulk, so that they may gauge the requirements of the market and make their arrangements ahead for an extended period.

The suggestion that tho British Board of Trade should undertake the organisation of a trade fair in London was niado first in the early months of the war, when the trade of the world was in a 6tate of disorganisation. The model was the groat Gorman Lcipsic Fair, to which for 000 years buyers from all countries were wont to resort in order to make their purchases. "There were then in tho service of the Department a number of extremely enthusiastic young men." 6ay« the. "Times Trade Supplement." "Indeed, wo have said before that whatever tho old Commercial Intelligence Branch lacked in the way of resources, and however much it suffered from lack of official support, it was second to no Government Department in tho enthusiasm of its staff. Prominent among them was Mr. If. W. Dalton, now His Majesty's Trade Commissioner in New Zealand-- a well-deserv-ed promotion. It is only fair that bis name should be mentioned.

"It is permissible now to admit that tho response to the first circular sent out by the branch fell absolutely flat. Thera was a day when the eager young men in Basinsliall Street found instead of a sackful of replies to their circular a mere handful of letters. It looked as though the British Industries Fair was stillborn. Was it possible tokindlo among the manufacturers a fire of enthusiasm similar to that which burnt so brightly in the dingy Basinghall Street offices? Obviously there was only one thing to be done. Contrary to every precedent, it was decided that a band of young men should go cast and west and north and south as emissaries of the Board of Trade and 'compel theni to come in.' If wa are to appreciate fully the value of the services these men rendered wo must recall that neither by training nor inclination were they salesmen in the commercial sense of tho word. Their success is remarkable testimony to tho fact that youth, energy, and enthusiasm can win victory where age and experience fail."

The British industries fairs are not! exhibitions. They are trade fairs to which admittance is restricted to bonafido trade buyers seriously interested in the participating Ui-ades. Only British manufacturing firms are_allowed[ to exhibit, and no exhibitor is permitted to exhibit goods other than those of his actual manufacture. The result- is that buyers who visit! the fair know that no articles shown on exhibitors stand can be purchased elsewhere in tho fair. So organised tho British Industries Fair is immeasurably more valuable .to buyers than a fair in which the same arfjcles may be shown on many exhibitors' stands, nnd where a, visitor may Miiend uiuch of his time in comparing the different prices at which competing merchants may be offering the same goods. That the British industries fair, during tho six years of its life, lias been an unqualified success, is easy to prove. In the first place, the number of exhibitors in each group of trades has steadily increased each year. In the second place, lite number of trade' buyers has also steadily increased. In London last year there were days when very nearly as many visitors entered the fair has had done so during a whole week aii the earlier fairs. Yet another proof of tho success of the fair is the amount of business transacted at it. It is safe to say' that the orders nt ihe last fair totalled more than, a million .pounds each day that it was open. Visitors from overseas who have had no opportunity in the last few years of B'aidyiiig many of the classes, of goods which will be exhibited at the London fair (says the Board' of Trade) will be struck by the amazing progress which has been made by British manufacturers since the outbreak of war. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the war provided such a stimulus i.hat in tho space of a year or two British industrry made more progress than could normally havo been looked for in several decades, with the result that the country is now in u position to exnort large quantities of goods of which it formerly depended entirely on imports from abroad. _ While this development in the capacity of manufacturing plant has, of course, materially assisted in keeping down prices, it has also been marked by a rigid adherence to, and in many cases even by a decided improvement in, the general high standard of quality which has al-' ways been tho distinctive, feature of British goods.