BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20832, 26 September 1929, Page 11

BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR.

PLANS TOR NEXT YEAR. NEW OLYMPIA BUILDINGS. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, August 23. Hitherto the British Industries Fair has been held in the rambling buildings'" of the long-dismantled " White City ” at Shepherd’S Bush. Next year it is to he held in an enlarged Olympia in what. should be much more effective setting. The existing buildings at Olympia ar'a being reconstructed, and a new fourstorey building, the. largest in the Empire, is being hurried on so that two floors will be ready for the nest fair. By 1931 the existing floor area—soma 300,000 square feet—will- be .practically doubled, with ample scope for still further expansion. The architect is a young man, Mr Joseph Emberton, who makes no concession to {esthetics in his r pursuit of efficiency, his theory being that if he secures the. maximum efficiency within the limitations of space and cost a pleasing appearance auto-, inatically follows. In his design- for the new home of the fair, outside appearances are entirely dependent on practical needs, the design being largely a matter of pleasing proportions, and not of ornamenta- ‘ tion. Indeed, there is no ojjnamenta-v tion—beyond a pifece 6f sculpture in I. stainless st^cl —the whole of the face of the building, 330 feet long, being free from projections so that it can be efficiently flood-lit. Provision is made for huge advertisement letters which are necessary for an exhibition building. These will probably be in stainless steel, like the statuary, and there will be no need for haphazard billposting. This is the up-to-date setting in which the London fair is to be held in future. It is felt that the new homo will be worthy of the goods to be displayed in it; that it is not just a temporary encampment, but a place: where this important annual fixture can settle down and expand from year to year without anxiety as to the future. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT.

A committee appointed by the Gov(says a correspondent of The Times) is to investigate how the usefulness and scope of the fair may be inci eased, and ways of increasing its usefulness to the British’ countries overseas will not be overlooked. - The Labour Government, in the person of Mr J. H. Thomas, has given its blessing,'and its organisation has been taken up with enthusiasm by the new Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Trade, Mr G. M. Gillett, ALP, As a result of some hard work done .by the Department of Overseas Trade under Mr Gillett’s predecessor, Air Douglas Hacking, ALP., there are to be some important changes in the fair of 1830, and these are all designed to make it a great dealmore attractive to the trade buyer and more convenient for the quick transaction of business. Business men in oversea countries will experience little difficulty in learning all they want to know and getting official, assistance in , every possible way, for every British Trade Commissioner, commercial diplomatic officer, and Consul is, as it were, an agent The Department of Overseas Trade keeps all its oversea officers informed of»the arrangements and requests them to take every possible step—not forgetting such modern methods of propoganda as. broadcasting—to make the fair known.