§ Mr. HOGGEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that the Board of Trade are advertising for sale a directory of British manufacturers at a price of 2s. 6d., he will state the number of these books which he had printed, the cost of their production, and the number of the staff engaged in the selling of the book in question; and what is the charge per page for advertising material?
§ Sir P. LLOYD-GREAMEThe hon. Member's question would appear to refer to the catalogue of the British Industries Fair, organised annually by the Department of Overseas Trade at the end of February. The catalogue, which contains the names of the exhibitors and a classification of their products and is, therefore, an essential item in the organisation of the fair, is distributed free to buyers visiting the fair. A charge of 2s. 6d. is made to other persons who may wish to acquire copies, and after the close of the fair a circular letter was issued to the firms who had been invited to visit it, informing them that a number of the catalogues were still available at that224W price. I am glad to say that, as a result of the circular, over 1,700 have been disposed of. The total number of catalogues printed was 40,000; of these, about 23,000 were distributed to trade buyers at the fair; about 11,000 have so far been distributed to trade buyers abroad, and about 2,000 have been sold. The cost involved in the preparation and printing etc. of the catalogue is met, like the other expenses of the fair, out of the sums received in rent from the exhibitors.