"BUY BRITISH"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 114, 6 January 1932, Page 6

"BUY BRITISH"

a Correspondent.)

EMPIRE GOODS SOLD RESULTS OF MARKETING BOARD CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN. "SPREADING LIKE A WAVE."

(From

LONDON, Nov. 25. Empire buying is "spreading like a wave over Britain as a-result of the "Buy British" campaign launched last week. This is no mere vague ahd specious statement. Yesterday I made a tour of a dozen shops, big and little, in London to find out whether people are really asking more for Empire goods. Here are some of the responses: — The manager of one of the biggest wholesalers in Covent Garden reported a defmite increase in demand for Empire fruit, not only from London, but also from the Provinces. The buyer of a big store in London, who has always previously had foreign grapefruit, placed a preliminary order for 75 cases of Empire grapefruit, and said that the change-over would

be permanent. Top Price Apples. Empire apples are so much in demand that the price has gone up. This does not mean that the consumer will have to pay more, it means that Empire apples ousted the foreign from top place on the market. Yesterday the manager was told by members of three firms that they were having difficulty in disposing of their foreign stocks, but that orders were pouring in for Empire fruit because housewives insisted on having it. From Covent Garden I went on to a high-class grocer and provision merchant in Kensington. "My firm is selling £25,000 more Empire goods than it was three years ago," the manager told me. "There has been a definite change in the last few weeks. I should say that 10 times as many customers now ask specifically for Empire goods as did so a few weeks ago." Mr. J. H. Thomas Starts Train. Mr. J. H. Thomas, Secretary of State for the Dominions, opened the second - week of the "Buy Britislo" campaign by starting the Cornish Riviera Express, one of the "star" trains in Britain, off from Paddington Station with a green guard's fiag. The train was decorated from head to tail with posters. The front of the erigine earried a big shield bearing the "Buy British" slogan in huge letters

and there were posters on every window and in every carriage. In the restaurant car a special Empire luncheon was served. Mr. Thomas was reminded of his days as a cleaner and fireman on the same line — the Great Western — when he climbed on to the footplate of the engine, King George V, to urge the crowd to "Buy British." The enginedriver was an old acquaintance of his railway days. King George V has been specially chosen for the trip. The most poWert'ul passenger locomotive in Britain, it was selected, a few years ago, to go to the United States to represent the British railways on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It broke all the records it was allowed to, and is now the only engine in Britain to carry a bell on its front, such as is worn by all American trains. Now it is carrying the "Buy British" message down to the "West Country. In the train were huge baskets of Empire fruit and hampers of produce from . every Empire country, which had been sent hy the Lady Mayoress of London to he presented to the Lord Mayors of Exeter and Plymo.uth, down the line. Ten-Ton Pudding. The Prinee of Wales' ten-ton Christmas pudding for the unemployed- is being made entirely out of Empire products, from Australian raisins to home-brewed beer. Thousands of ordinary housewives are following this example. "Nine out of ten of my customers are asking for Empire ingredients for their puddings," a leading provision merchant and grocer said. He also told me that, in every previous year. foreign eggs have been stocked and about 3-0,000 to 35,000 have been sold every week. This winter Australian and South African eggs are being stocked and only two cases of foreign eggs were bought. These have been in stock for two weeks and only 100 eggs have been sold. Display in Five Stores. These are only a few extracts from a story which is being told everywhere. Many of the big stores have special Empire displays in their provision and grocei'ies sections. In fact, all five of the leading stores which I visited had such displays. The campaign is going to run until Christmas. Posters are being lcept up on all the buses, trams and underground trains, which are now displaying them everywhere. Free sites have been given on hoardings throughout the country, and practically every branch of the "Big Five" Banks is now displaying posters. The biggest sign in Britain, the giant "Buy British," which ilashes its eleetric message from the wall near the new site of South Afriea House, is illuminating Trafalgar Square.