168 



THE BANANA 



was originally prepared for, and read at, the " Premier 

 Congres International du Froid," in Paris in 1908. 



When Sir Alfred Jones, 

 Chairman of the Elder-Demp- 

 ster Lines, undertook the con- 

 tract for a line of fruit steamers 

 to Jamaica, he recognized that 

 by the aid of cooled air alone 

 could the contract require- 

 ments be met, and entrusted 

 Messrs. J. and E. Hall with 

 the designing and supplying of 

 complete refrigerating instal- 

 lations for the new vessels. 



The system adopted was 

 generally on the lines of the 

 successful installations de- 

 signed and carried out during 

 the previous few years by 

 Messrs. Hall for the transport 

 of apples on a number of vessels 

 employed in the Australian 

 trade, but the much more 

 critical condition of bananas 

 on shipment and the great 

 quantity of gas and heat given 

 off in the very rapid ripening 

 of this fruit had to be esti- 

 mated and allowed for. That 

 the pioneer vessels continued 

 carrying and landing their 

 fruit in first-class condition, 

 and that, except in some 

 trifling details, the fruit -carry- 

 ing arrangements are exactly 

 as they were when first in- 

 stalled, is conclusive evidence 

 that the assumptions then 



