(COPY)
PERSONAL
•
Government House,
Hong Kong.
July 17th, 1935.
14
My Dear Goodenough,
The Advertising and Publicity Bureau Ltd. proposes to run a British Empire and China Trade Fair in Hong Kong in December 1936 or February 1937. The object of the Fair is the furtherance of trade between British firms and China (more particularly South China) and the improvement of trade in Hong Kong which is still suffering very severely from the economic depression. The Hong Kong Government has shown its sympathy with the promoters by granting a valuable site free of rent and by promising a subsidy of $2,000 if the Fair is held.
Local British Mercantile houses are at present lukewarm about the Fair having some doubts whether such fairs are of practical value and feeling diffident about spending money when the trade outlook is still so bad.
It was originally intended to hold the Fair next December but the promoters encountered unexpected difficulties. The firm has its detractors in Hong Kong and apart from legitimate doubts and rivalries it has I think suffered from a certain amount of unjustifiable animosity. The rise in exchange also upset the promoters' calculations and in the absence of strong support from local merchants it was found impossible to organize the Fair by December 1935.
Personally I feel that we ought to be ready for the forward move when the moment arrives, for China is undoubtedly becoming more and more westernized in material things, and that if the British Industries Fair has the value which is claimed for it, a local British Industries Fair, specially devoted to the China trade, ought also to be very valuable.
Knowing your keen interest in salesmanship as a prime factor in industry I have ventured to give to Mrs. Beatrice Thompson, one of the Managing Directors and principal owners of the Advertising and Publicity Bureau, a card of introduction to you. Mrs. Thompson is visiting England to enlist the interest of British manufacturers in the Fair and any help you can give her will be much appreciated. Business with China is very difficult in these days of high tariffs and long credits but if England is to maintain its share of the trade it must be prepared to show the Chinese what it can do in competition with America, Germany, Italy and Japan and other competitors and a Trade Fair in Hong Kong seems a very good method of accomplishing this object.
My wife has accepted the office of President of
a Ladies Committee in connection with the Fair. Mrs. Thompson hopes by this Committee to establish useful contacts between British and Chinese women.