THE APPLE BUSINESS.— II. 



FRAUD EVEN IN LIVERPOOL. 



Mr. Pritchard went on to show, al- 

 thoug-h this was not perhaps just the sort of 

 impression he intended to leave, that queer 

 practices are not confined to this side of the 

 ocean — that they extend to the innocent, 

 dull-headed receiver in Liverpool. 



" Dealers in Liverpool," said Mr, Pritch- 

 ard, "would sooner have a faced barrel than 

 one running- even all the way through. They 

 are not deceived, because any barrel can be 

 turned out on demand, and dealers see just 

 what they are getting." 



M. H. Peterson said that, while this style 

 of packing did not injure us in Liverpool, it 

 would injure us in markets where buyers 

 were not on to it. 



Mr. James showed very clearly, however, 

 that while Liverpool dealers may not com- 

 plain of such packing, Canadian producers 

 are very much injured by such a system even 

 in apples sent to Liverpool. "The complaint 

 does not come from the dealers," said the 

 latter. They are not deceived by the facing, 

 and are probably able to sell a little above 

 actual value a barrel packed in that way. 

 It is the consumer, the man who buys for 

 his own use a barrel in which the centre does 

 not agree with the top, who kicks." 



THE AUCTION SYSTEM IN FRUIT-SELLING. 



F. D. Cummings, of Portland, Me., gave 

 a new turn to the discussion. He read a 

 paper, in which he advocated the substitution 

 of the auction for the commission system in 

 disposing of fruit on this continent. "It is 

 not," he said, " considered exactly safe to 

 leave uncounted money with a stranger, he 

 knowing it to uncounted, and expect him to 

 make returns of every penny and the profit 

 earned by the money. But that is just what 

 we do when we send fruit to a commission 

 house for sale on commission. The unsatis- 



factory nature of the present system is 

 shown by the sort of laws it has been thought 

 necessary to introduce for its regulation. In 

 one State the law provides that a commission 

 man may be called upon to show cause why 

 he did not obtain the highest market price 

 on the day of sale ; in another the producer 

 of the fruit is given the right to go through 

 the books of the commission merchant for 

 the purpose of seeing what his fruit really 

 sold for ; and in New York an attempt is 

 being made to pass a law obliging the com- 

 mission man to include in his return the 

 name of the retailer to whom he has sold. 

 How much better and less cumbersome the 

 auction system, with its straight, clear-cut 

 transactions." 



REJECTIONS IN LIVERPOOL AFTER AUCTION, 



But Mr. Cummings* chief grievance was 

 with the manner in which American apples 

 are handled in Liverpool. "They have the 

 auction system there," he said, " but they 

 have also the right of rejection for practically 

 36 hours after purchase. There should be no 

 right of rejection. Prospective buyers have 

 the right of examination on arrival ; they 

 can, and do, use their hatchets to open any 

 barrel they wish ; they can demand the 

 dumping out of the contents of any barrel 

 when the auction is on ; and still, after all 

 this right of examination, they can reject 

 practically 36 hours after purchase. This 

 gives buyers an unfair avenue of escape, if 

 the market goes wrong in the meantime. 

 Once a sale is made there should be no right 

 of rejection afterwards." 



A LIVERPOOL VIEW OF IT. 



" We must remember," said Mr. James, 

 "that Liverpool is the greatest apple market 

 in the world. VVe must remember, too, 

 that the buyers have their views, and we as 

 sellers cannot hope to dictate to them just 



