'File 10/8 Overseas trade enquiries' [‎73v] (148/495)

5. The chief advantages of the new home of the London section are that
the buildings are extremely suitable and convenient; they are compact in arrange
ment so as to bring all sections into close touch with one another; and there will be
three main entrances so as to give easy access to every section. These are
improvements which will make the work of the trade buyers easier than in the
past.
6. Moreover, the buildings are suitable for use at any time of the year.
The heating and ventilation consequently leave little to be desired, and the
existence of a permanent catering organisation, working with all the equipment
and facilities of a first-class restaurant, will obviate the necessity for improvising
kitchens and restaurants for a fortnight each year, a task impossible of satis
factory An East India Company trading post. accomplishment.
IV.— A dvertising appropriation.
7. His Majesty's Government have again granted the sum of £25,000 for
expenditure on publicity. A statement is attached showing the allocation of this
amount as decided by the Department after consultaion with the Joint General
Purposes and Publicity Committee.
8. As the overseas officers concerned will be aware from a circular despatch
which was addressed to them on the 9th July, it has been decided that they
should be allowed to expend at their own discretion the sums allocated for
publicity in their respective countries, provided they are willing to undertake
this responsibility, and subject to the Department's approving their schemes.
V.— Press and General Publicity.
9. Messrs. Charles F. Higham, Limited; have again been appointed as the
Department's agents for the placing of press advertising in this country. They
will not deal with the placing of advertisements in the overseas press except in
cases where the overseas officers are not prepared to undertake the expenditure
of the sums allotted.
10. As in previous years, the Department will endeavour to arrange for
the issue of special articles descriptive of individual sections of the Fair, or
certain aspects of British industry, with special reference to the Fair. Such
articles will, as far as possible, be translated into the languages of the countries
in which the overseas officers reside.
11. Arrangements will also be made to publish in the Board of Trade
Journal a series of articles on the Fair, giving the latest information available,
and it is hoped that overseas officers will be able to arrange for the reproduction
of some of this matter in the local press. Arrangements will also again be made
with the News Department of the Foreign Office for the inclusion of information
regarding the Fair in their weekly bulletins and wireless news.
VI.— Publicity literature.
12. The literature available will consist of a folder and a showcard, and
an adhesive poster stamp. Copies of the folder translated into French, German,
Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Danish, and Swedish, of the showcard
and of the invitation card will be forwarded to overseas officers in due course.
It is suggested that the poster stamp should be used on outgoing correspondence
by officers and, where possible, by local British firms, Chambers of Commerce, etc.
It is found advisable as a general rule to affix the stamp to the letter, and not to
the envelope since, in many business houses, the envelopes are opened by the
junior staff and are not seen by the heads of firms at all.
13. It is suggested that copies of the showcard and of the folder should, as
before, be distributed to local British banks, railway, shipping and insurance
■companies, to British Chambers of Commerce, and to local branches of British
firms. It is hoped that it may be possible also to induce British firms to assist
to circulate the folder. The Department has again approached headquarters in
this country of the companies concerned, with the request that they should notify