INDUSTRIES HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 50, 28 August 1934, Page 9

INDUSTRIES HOUSE

A LONDON VENTURE

PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, July 19.

British Industries House was officially opened this afternoon by Lord Derby. Tho scheme for .this buying centre for the Empire has been in preparation for a year or two. A powerful group* of British insurance companies subscribed £450,000 to a company known as Hereford House, which purchased the 200-year lease of tho vast building on the south sido of Oxford Street, near Marble Arch, which was erected for Messrs. Gamago (Wost End), about two and a half years ago. It originally cost £1,000,000, but the new company acquired it at :t figure considerably lower.

The idea is to provide a. perpetual exhibition and market placo for the first time. Manufacturers from nil parts of the Empire may take a show window or a room, and buyers from the ■whole world may visit the centre. Six of the eight floors of British Industries House will bo set aside for the. use of manufacturers. Two floors are to bo used for a club, and there will be lounges and n restaurant seating 200 people. To the Publicity and Travel Section the general public have access at .ill times. All thoso details were explained again this afternoon by the Rt. Hon. the L'arl of Elgin, one of the directors. The whole of tho ground floor of the building was crowded with- invited guests. This fact gavo one considerable confidence for the success of a scheme which is a decided adventure in this most conservative country. MEDICAL TRADES. Tho trades associated with the medical profession and with hospitals have given a splendid lead. Indeed, the hosts were not only the directors of British Industries House, but tho members of the Medical Advisory Council, and many distinguished medical men were on the platform. Tho Medical. Centre of the Industries Hones comprises a permanent display of hospital equipment of British manufacture for tho convenience of buyers all over tho world. A largo variety of medical and surgical requisites, dressings, and hospital fittings were displayed, and a hospital suite included two completely furnished operating theatres, a twelvebed hospital ward, and a solarium. As this part of tho new permanent exhibition is so fully developed tho guests were invited to inspect the section, closely. But the manufacturers Of other general goods hay already bcgim to tako space, and one floor was very well occupied. On the whole, it appears that the manufacturers are not yet clamouring for space, but some progress has been made. It will be interesting to watch the progress during tho coming year, when the organisation is _in full working order. If there is a quiet ana steady increase in the number of exhibitors one may safely prophesy a success, for a particular characteristic of the British business man is to wait and see what the other man does. PLEASURE AND BUSINESS. Lord Derby said he knew, as head of the Travel Association of Great Britain and Ireland, that nine-tenths of the peoplo who eomo to this country for pleasure could be induced to do business as well. But they would not travel all over tho country to interview businoss men. If thero was a central place whero tho manufactures of most of tho principal firms were displayed they would only be ton pleased to call and •lo business. As for the medical exhibit, most pnoplo were of the opinion that the sick should have the very best of everything in the way of equipment and drugs, even if the goods had to be bought from foreign countries. Tho object of the proscnt exhibition was to show that tho pationrs could have the very best of everything, but wo need not go out of our own country to get them. He had been connected with many hospitals, and one of the difficulties "they faced even in a great London hospital was to find the right firm from which to procure their goods and nt the right price. If it were difficult for Londoners, how much more difficult for those who came up from tho provinces'? To those the nevmanent exhibit would be most useful.