BRITISH INDUSTRIES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 103, 1 May 1926, Page 13

BRITISH INDUSTRIES

BIGGER EXHIBITION IN 1927

MORE BUSINESS—MORE WORK

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, 10th March,

So pronounced and unqualified has been the success o the 1926 British Industries Pair that it has lieen practically decided to hold another and greater exhibition at the White City next year. The Department of Overseas Trade will in the immediate future tako in hand its organisation. This year's exhibitors are unanimous in declaring that the fair, recently visited by over 57j000 home and overseas buyers, has-served to focus world-wide attention on British trade revival in many branches of industry, and that it has brought substantial financial benefit to many fariufaeturers who, at small cost to. themselves, took part in the' trade exposition. The applications for space from these traders, and from others anxious also to secure allotments at the fair : of. 1927, leave lit' doubt .that it will meet .with still further sue-., cess on a self-supporting basis, but it ia hoped that the Government grant of £25,000, made for the first time to the organisers of this year's fair, will be repealed for the purposes of organisa-i tion and publicity. . Looked at from a strictly businesslike and actuarial point of view, the prosperity which this' year's fair has brought to Sundry individual manufacturers, and the prospects which it foreshadows of the revival of British trade ■generally^ are all the more remarkable because (following the ''slump 5' of the last few years) the conditions under which'it has been held have approximated more closely to normal than probably at any period since 1915. A large number of letters of congratulation i from exhibitors at the London section have been received by the Oversetv, Department. One exhibitor in the fancy goods section writes: "The results of the fair was already far beyond our expectations, and we are working seven days a. week to cope with our orders. In addition to opening up new accounts in the TTnited Kingdom, our orders include new. business with Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Den-. mark, Canada, and the United, States.". An exhibiting firm in the foodstuffs section states that it has been necessary to take on an additional 100 workmen to cope with the orders actually taken at tho fair.. Several exhibitors in the china and earthenware section took more than twice as many orders as at the 1934 fair. One ■ exhibitor in the furniture section states "the demand for our goods has quite upset our calculations so far as the United States arc concerned. In addition, we are wholly surprised at the orders wo have received from South America, Canada, Sweden, and France, and as a result wo havo had to increase our staff threefold."

A high proportion of actual business transacted at the fair was done with overseas buyers, and a large number of exhibitors havo informed the department that they have opened new accounts with buyers from over "ten different countries. The general consensus uf opinion is that tho results of the fair have been far in excess of expectations, and,it is particularly interesting to learn from one firm exhibiting in the.clothing section —an entirely now section—that they have been more than surprised at the orders booked, which ■ practically cover tho. world. Now accounts,with this firm have been opened- with buyers ' from" ■ -h'umcrous. countries beyond the confines of, Europe. During the period 'of the fair —15th to 2Gth February—the London section was visited by 81,131 people, of whom 23,823 were members of the general public. During the'lOSl London Fair 25,363 visits were made by homo and overseas buyers, and of this number approximately 2177 yisit3 were made by overseas,, buyers. „'..' LEIPZIG AND FOREIGN EXHIBITS. It is a tradition of centuries that the Leipzig Fair should be international. Dr. Kaimond Kohler, of the executive board of the fair, a few days ago, laid stress on this, as did his colleague, Dr. Voss, but he admitted that the application of this principle is sometimes attended by friction. It ".va3 to be gathered from his speech (says the Leipzig correspondent of "The Times") that, in spite of the tradition of centuries, there is a condition attached to the admission of! foreign cxhibiors, which is that German trade and industry must be given equal opportunity of exhibition at „tn.j chief fair of the foreign country concerned.

It is rather difficult to reconcile this with the claim made in practically oyery ipcech that the Reipzig Fair is an institution unparalleled in any other country in the world. It would seem that the tendency to exclude foreign goods, either in retaliation for the exclusion of German goods from the natioiial exhibitions in countries which do not claim' to. possess great fairs with international' traditions^ or, as Dr. Kohler admits is sometimes the case, simply because certain German manufacturers do not like to see their foreign competitors' ..goods . alongside their own, must iii time alter the chnr.aeter. of the Leipzig- Fair. Naturally,

it is primarily German; 93 per cent, of the exhibitors are German firms. The other 7 per cent, must be largely Central European. This year there arc only about a dozen British exhibitors, and at most half that number of American exhibitors. The exclusion of British and all other foreign artificial silk without " rmally breaking tho international tradition has been managed by the simple expedient of calling tho artificial silk section a separate exhibition and not a section of the fair. The same has been done in. several other trades, notably in the sports outfitting trade, which has its own exclusively German show in the new King' Messhaus. The excuso offered by the,trade with some vehemence is that Germany has not yet been readmitted to all'international sporting events, and that as long as that is the case the ' German makers of sports goods will not admit foreign goods to their ■■' exhibition. They claim to have refused quite a number of British applications. The correspondent hears that one or two British sports outfitting firms are exhibiting in other parts of the fair, but: their exhibition must be lost in the jumble of .general exhibits far removed from those of other German competitors. Nobody seems to know where they are. .'So far as British participation' is concerned, therefore, nothing "much is "to be expected from . the exhibition pom1; ,of view. It remains, to be seen what business is done by the 600 prospective British buyers. '.."/'.' ■ .85, Fleet street.