" FAIR OF PARIS."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8004, 6 May 1904, Page 2

" FAIR OF PARIS."

1 COMMERCIAL EXHIBITION. Paris has many fairs in the course of the twelve months, but none quit© like that whichr openedi on St Patrick's ©ay on the site formerly occupied by the Old Temple Market, where second-hand clothes and r boots formed the chief commodity. Thw " Fair of Paris," which was opened .. by the Minister of Commerce, is intended 9 to be a' sort of Leipsig Fair in the French j capital, a commercial exhibition where j wholesale buyers ,from< all over France and from abroad may gather once a year to do business. The small customer — the man who buys, over the counter* — is not wanted at the Fadr « of Paris, which, if it answers the puipoßs for which it has been, created, will save the representatives- of large houses much time and trouble by bringing together at one timy and in one plac^ the goods and the dealers of every important industry in France. Nearly eight htindred persons had stands ; j at the fair, and the articles on- show ranged from penny toys and postcardß to furniture and pianos. The fair, which remained open for a week, was very tastefully decorated, 1 and was crowded. ' Among the many foreign visitors German buyers seemed to be especially numerous. .