The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1920. FOSTERING BRITISH INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1920. FOSTERING BRITISH INDUSTRIES.

The visit of the King and Queen to the British Industries Fairs which are now being held in England, should be a sufficient indication of the great importance of this movement, which has been in existence since 1915. Three of these Industries Fairs are being held simultaneously, from February 23 to March 5, it being found impossible to concentrate in any single building. The London fair is at the Crystal Palace, which is the largest exhibition place in the world, yet is not big enough to give manufacturers and merchants the accommodation they applied for, with the result that fairs are also being held at Birmingham and Glasgow at which hardware end textiles will be chiefly is evid-

ence. The Department of Overseas Trade issued as many as-52,-000 invitations to foreign buyers for the London Fair alone, and circulated 40,000 pamphlets, in seven languages, descriptive of the nature and objects of the fairs. Altogether, a selected list of foreign and British firms to the number of 200,000 were communicated with. In speaking at the opening ceremony on Monday last, Sir Eric Geddes said the fairs had entirely changed their character since they were instituted, as they no longer' gave opportunities for buyers to fill up gaps, but were utilised by purchasers from all parts of the world to secure goods of any class they desired. At the last British fair orders to the value of £2,500,000 were taken, and it is said that some manufacturers have practically no need of orders beyond those they take at the fairs. Sir Auckland Geddes stressed the point that the only way to win back pre-war commercial prosperity was by the development of export trade, and it is significant that the Government is contemplating a further development in the direction of having showrooms on the Continent and elsewhere, whilst it is also contributing £IOO,000 to the guarantee fund of the British Empire Exhibition to be held in London in October, 1921. Besides this, a statement was recently made by Sir Hamar Greenwood (Secretary of the Department of Overseas Trade), to the effect that it was also intended to arrange for touring exhibitions of British manufactures to visit, the Dominions, the Far East, and America. He asserts that the bounds of trade have been enormously extended, and that trade is now flowing through new channels that were undreamt of years ago. Untold millions of Orientals and Africans are coming rapidly into the world of trade as customers, and his Department was making it its business to help British manufacturers to find those markets abroad and develop them. This welcome recognition of the paramount interests of British trade is a new departure that is an outcome of the war, and is apparently being developed o# sound business lines. The object of the fairs is to convince foreign buyers that they are trade events which they cannot afford to miss, and thus to tempt them to come from all parts of the world in ever-in-creasing numbers. A gratifying feature of the scheme is that it has never cost the British taxpayer a shilling, and never will. It is absolutely self-supporting. That the Department of Overseas Trade is a thoroughly live institution may be gleaned from the fact that it believes not only in the beneficial effect of publicity, but contemplates undertaking a striking system of advertising by means of movable shops and touring exhibitions abroad—one for Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa; another for India and the Far East, where competitors are showing great activity; a third for South America, and possibly a fourth for the United States, showing high-class luxury articles made in Britain. It is proposed that each touring exhibition shall consist of .400 to 500 exhibits, in charge of officials of the Department, the exhibition to be kept open for six weeks jn each centre. There will, in addition, be opened permanent show rooms in all the large cities of the Continent. The success of this ambitious projectwill necessarily depend upon the degree of support accorded by manufacturers generally, for the exhibition must be self-supporting] The element of human nature has not been left out of consideration in arranging its details, as Sir Hamar Greenwood has put forward a strong plea for a hospitable welcome being extended to foreign buyers, each of whom he considers should be made to feel that he is the nation's guest, and be given so good a time that he would be anxious to come again. There is a refreshing boldness of initiative in this plan for developing trade that should appeal to manufacturers and buyers alike. Moreover, it conveys a lesson to producers and manufacturers of the Dominions, to whom new markets, and especially those likely to result in greater profits; should be most welcome. There has never' been for the British Empire such a favorable opportunity as the. present for capturing trade and for creating trade. It is mainly a question of organisation on the right lines. The business of the world will fall into the hands of those who, knowing how to annex it, take the right steps to cater for and secure it.' Buyers, says Sir Auckland Geddes, are clamoring for goods.