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In addition, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank sent a large coloured drawing of the Bank premises, the "China Mail" exhibited a series of photographs of the Colony, and the Kowloon Docks had on show a chart showing the extent and facilities of their dockyard. The Imports and Exports Department showed a series of charts taken from Mr. Davis' book, showing the movement of trade and shipping through Hong Kong in the 1930's, and the Fisheries Department sent a model of a fishing junk and charts showing the various types of fish caught in Hong Kong waters.
4. The Committee had three objects in mind in exhibiting at the British Industries Fair. The first and most important was to show the world what the Colony was doing in the way of Industry, Banking, and the like, and in so exhibiting, to offer our products and services to overseas buyers.
Second, we hoped that representatives of our manufacturers would contact other Industrialists for the purpose of purchasing the latest and most up-to-date machinery available in the United Kingdom.
Thirdly, we wished our representatives to visit the large Industrial plants of England to see for themselves the conditions in which British Industry operates. The Committee felt that a visit of this nature would do more than any amount of the written word in enabling local industrialists to see how local factories stood in relation to the methods of production adopted in British Industrial Plants.
The Committee was fortunate in being able to make use of the London Office of the Hong Kong Government. In our opinion, it would have been literally impossible, with the time at our disposal, to have contacted an English firm to manage the Hong Kong stall at Earls Court. The Hong Kong agent in London secured the good offices of the Architectural Department of the British Board of Trade who were able to advise on the design and layout of the Stall.
5. The stall occupied a ground floor area of some 400 sq. ft. In the centre, a stand was erected in tiers, while shelves were fixed round the interior walls on which were displayed the various exhibits. The space above the shelves was used for the exhibition of charts, pictures, and plans. The whole area was illuminated by concealed fluorescent lights in order to show the exhibits at their best. Although the Hong Kong stand looked colourful and attractive when the exhibits had been laid out, it did give the appearance of a somewhat over-crowded departmental store suffering from lack of space.
Because of this, it appeared to suffer in contrast with the more grandiose exhibits of the Dominions but, in the long run, this proved a blessing in disguise. When the Fair opened, it appeared that buyers had little interest in the lavish displays of luxury items which were shown by other countries, knowing full well that it would be impossible to obtain Import Licences to bring such items into their respective countries. They, therefore, tended to give a passing admiration to these attractive exhibits, and to concentrate on the Hong Kong stall which could offer commodities of eminently practical utility. As a result, the general impression was that the Hong Kong stall attracted more enquiries than any other stall in the Empire section. In future, it should be a point of policy to exhibit what the world can, and will, buy, rather than to show what will merely call forth an unproductive, even if enthusiastic, admiration.
6. The Fair opened at 9.30 p.m. on May 3rd, and until it closed on May 14th, there was a constant stream of visitors to the Hong Kong stand. It was the confirmed opinion of all who were present at that Stall that a greater interest was shown by buyers in the Hong Kong stand than in any other stall in the Empire Section. While no record could be kept of the actual number of visitors, and it was difficult to judge which visitors were genuine buyers and which were making casual enquiries, it is estimated that on average 25 buyers each day made serious enquiries covering a large range of products.
It was unfortunate that owing to the limited time available to arrange our exhibits, the printing of catalogues and all commercial literature was not completed until a late date, and the ship on which they were sent to England was delayed on the way so that this very essential information did not arrive until after the Fair was