THE PLACE OF THE WHOLESALER IN DISTRIBUTION

When this address was first delivered to the National Conference of the Federation of Wholesale and Industrial Distributors in July, Lady Margaret Hall took it upon herself to act as a catalyst. The tone of the article therefore is fairly rousing. In fact, it is an attempt to rouse the wholesale sector of British industry — a sector about which comparatively little is heard. She acknowledges the enormous contribution wholesalers make to the economy, but states that they need a louder voice, a more powerful means of making their needs and their importance felt. Her paper also emphasises the role wholesalers could play in bringing about an integrated distribution system; and she asks them to pick up the challenge now, before it is foreced on them by the energy crisis or successive governments.