The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1948-05-27
THROUGH
Hazel.
EYES
BY Hazel Bronnon
London
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Nav 4 1919

An American visitor to the cur
rent British Industries Fair this
week is impressed with the efforts
Britain is making to capture world
markets.
The British themselves are attend
ing the Fair on the three days 1t
is open to the public and trying
to reconcile the vast display of high
quality manufactured goods with
their own pitifully inadequate sup
plies on the home front. The mer-
chandise on display is for export
only. Home buyers must pay pur-
chase tax ranging as high as one
hundred per cent on some articles
making the prices prohibitive for
home consumption. The British are
making the goods but they cannot
afford to buy them and no greater
contrast can be imagined than what
they are making and what they are
actually using in their homes. Just
the same they are all here, men,
women and children, gazing at the
many lovely items Of clothing, fur
niture, household commodities, toys
and cher things hoping desperately
for the day when the Labor Govern
ment's austerity program will be
ended and they can replenish their
stocks of clothing and goods long
since worn out.
Assembled in three sections, two
at London and one at Birmingham,
are more than 5000 exhibits repre-
.senting the production Of thousands
of British industries employing mil
lions OF British workers. The BIZ
is recognized as the greatest nation
al trade fair in the world. Over 49,
900 buyers representing every coun-
try in the world are here including
those behind the iron curtain. The
sight of many of these buyers in
native dress and the spectacle of
their trading with the exhibitors
is a sight in itself not to mention
the many really outstanding exam
pies of British industry.
Every section of the United States
is represented among the several
hundred buyers present from Ameri-
ca and, as one official puts it, the
exhibitors are almost listening"
for an American accent American
dollars are wanted desperately in
Britain.
The annual BIF, discontinued
during the war and resumed only
last year, has made a noteworthy
contribution to the United Kingdom
since 1915 when it was established.
1t was begun in the First World
War to encourage British industry
to manufacture the articles needed
at home which could not be obtained
because of war. Today the exact
reverse is true The 1948 BIZ is be-
ing held because Britain's very life
now depends upon her production
for export and the services she can
render other countries, which in
way symboliZes her present world
position. She must export or perish.
The fact that buyers from all over
the world have battled the rigid
problems incident to travel to and
in Britain, the currency problem,
the admittedly high prices of her
goods, hotel food shortage, import
license restrictions and the many
other disadvantages to trading with
Britain is nice tribute to her in
dustrial achievement.
The remarkable growth of the BIZ
is seen when we remember that the
first BIZ had a total exhibiting
space of only $4,000 square feet and
there were only SCI exhibitors. The
public attendance was 1856 and
the catalogue, printed in English and
French, comprised of 240 pages. Just
before the second World War the
Fair had grown to such proportions
that 1000 overseas buyers attended.
When the Fair was revived last
year about half the pre-war num-
Der of buyers were expected. It was
only seventeen months after the war
and travel was difficult. But 1910
came. Exhibiting space was ten
times as great as the initial BIZ and
several thousand manufacturers
bought display space. Catalogues
carrying the program continued over
AsSVV PoSSo AiAliC ldllkudkGS dflQ
attendance on the three days il was
open to the public totaled 100000.
The large number of buyers at
the l947 Fair could be charged off
to the world scarcity of goods. Only
half that number was expected this
year. But during the first day of
this years BIZ there were only 40
fewer buyers than last year. Exhi-
biting space is larger and all those
wanting space were cut down in
their requests and then hundreds
of manufacturers could not be ac-
Comodated.
Buyers as whole this year are
more serious and deliberate and are
careful to make the rounds before
/. actually placing orders. Some ex-
hibitors express themselves as be-
ing disappointed thus far in actual