LIVERPOOL BROKERS AND FRUIT BUYERS' ASSOCIATION. 



'HE frontispiece of this article shows 

 the Auction Room of the Liverpool 

 Fruit Brokers and Buyers' Associa- 



■^^J tion. The gentleman in the centre 

 of the g-allery is Mr. Woodall, of the well- 

 known firm of Woodall & Co. 



From small beg^innings the Fruit Auction 

 has now become the hub of the Liverpool 

 fruit trade. Five years ago, when the apples 

 imported into Great Britain aggregated 

 2,937.000 bbls., 1,598,294 were received at 

 Liverpool and practically all handled through 

 the medium of this association. The illus- 

 tration only shows a small number of buyers, 

 ■as on a busy day not only will the pit but 

 also the galleries be crowded to the utmost 

 capacity. 



Xot only the fruit kings of Britain, but 

 down to the lowest barrow hucksters are 

 there, each bidding on the class of fruit suit- 

 able to their trade. Xo place in England or 

 perhaps in the world is there such a large 

 congregation oi buyers of such a varied 

 class. Apples, of course, are only one of 

 the fruits sold through this medium, as every 

 kind of imported fruit is sold there ; samples 

 are exposed on these hydraulic hoists and in 

 many cases tipped out for the scrutiny of 

 the buyers, whose eagerness often causes an 

 uproar like unto a stock exehange. 



The total sales in this room some days are 

 enormous ; the beauty oi this system is that 

 it brings all classes of dealers together into 

 competition. 



There are six brokers who control this 

 Auction, but other receivers who are not 

 brokers sell their receipts through one of 



these six, who are Messrs. Woodall & Co., 

 J. C. Houghton & Co., James Adam Son 

 & Co., McGeorge & Jardine, L. Connoly & 

 Co., Rogers Wray & Co., each taking their 

 turn of 40 minutes and then 20, and some- 

 times selling till late in the evening. 



The principal sales are held three days in 

 the week, Mondays. Wednesdavs and Fri- 

 days, and the large dealers from all the 

 leading towns in England and Scotland 

 come in to purchase. Stringent rules are 

 in force, binding on buyer and seller, and the 

 bid of any buyer is refused who does not 

 fulfill the requirements. The Auction Room 

 is strictly public, and catalogues of sales are 

 issued by the brokers on the day following 

 showing prices obtained. 



This system of consolidating the buyer 

 and seller has proved most successful in 

 Liverpool, and Glasgow has for some years 

 attempted to copy it, but so far it has been 

 impossible to get all the receivers together ; 

 and in London this method has clearly 

 proved its superiority over other systems, 

 where different firms hold their sales at same 

 time in dift'erent places. 



Mr. Eben James, of Toronto, to whom we 

 are indebted for this cut, represents the firm 

 ot Woodall & Co., who claim to be the first 

 receivers of American apples on consign- 

 ment to Liverpool, dating back as far as 

 1847, when Mr. Underwood, of Croton Point, 

 X.Y., made a trial shipment in casks, and 

 the original account sales is framed and 

 hanging in the Underwood mansion, of 

 which the firm is justly proud. 





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