LAERY & CO, LTD.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4289, 23 February 1901, Page 3

LAERY & CO, LTD.

NEW PREMISES ON JERVOIS QUA V. Laerv and Co., Ltd., auctioneers and f/etieraf merchant who-o old rooms in \Villis street were so long a familiar landmark in Dial bu.,y thoroughfare, have iately removed into more spacious and convenient premises, built to meet the special requirements of thentrade, on Jervois quay. The new twostoried building, which occupies a hue situation overlookng the harbour, pieRents a solid and imposing appearance. The front portion of _ the ground floor is occupied by a .series of office.-- six of which are. devoted to o.encal work. Then there is the manager’s room, a handsome apartment, furnished uith every requisite for tho despatch oi business. Much space has been taken up in providing a suitable entrance ioi vehicles, and the arrangements made strike the visitor as being singularly convenient for the handling of produce. Tho firm’s auction room occupies the entire space of the ground floor, with the exception of the oflices mentioned, and covers something like 5000 square feet. Here almost any dfay of the week the lively scenes associated with the sale of fruit by auction may be witnessed. Mr Alfred Reid, the principal auctioneer, is credited with great popularity among the cosmopolitan crowd ol buyers that gathers daily m uj ls , noted saleroom. Mr John Mitchell is another popular salesman with a high reputation aw a knight of the hammcr. A cool keeping-cellar, a feature of tlie arrangements on the ground floor, has been found to he of especial value in handling butter and eggs in, warm weather. Laery and Co. are not middlemen, those dovourers of the producers’ pr°fits. They may be correctly described as being commission agents. l inns, run cut similar lines to Laery’s, it is realised nowadays, offer the best medium by which the producer and consumer can be brought together. It would be difficult to over-estimate the value of the facilities which such firms as Laory and Co. ofier to the large and small country settler for the disposal of his produce. In a great measure the ready means of disposal such firms afford and the quick realisations on produce account for the prosperity ol that most desirable class of colonists — the small producers. If a settler lias a single hide to sell, lor instance, he lias only to send word that it is at the railway station; the company do everything else. The Hide is held, if necessary, until a decent lot is made up, when it is sold to the tanners. Thei cash, less charges, is at once remitted to tho settler. A single bale of wool, skins, tallow, and produce of every description in the smallest lots, may bo consigned to tho company, who being in almost hourly touch with an enormous business connection, are in a position to at once find a market at the current rates. Tanners, wool scourers, and retail shop-keepers are among the firm’s daily customers. Of course there is a speculative element in the business. The firm have immense dealings in flour, potatoes and oats, bub at the same time the small producer receives equal attention for the smallest lots he may consign to the city. When it is mentioned that the storage capacity of their premises represents h’Bso tons, some idea may be formed by the general reader of the quantity of stuff that the firm can handle. In fruit alone their transactions are enormous and diversified. The sale of the fruit is hut a branch of the firm’s extensive business. The haze of romance which sursounded the fruit trade in tho days when taper-masted schooners plied between the far-away Pacific isles and the colony has disappeared before the advent or the steamers which now monopolise the trade. A huge business is done in bananas, one of the most wholesome fruits in the world, and which cannot be sold at too cheap a rate. Arriving at Laery’s in countless bunches, the fruit is at once sold, although large quantities are kept back for sale to regular country and coastal ■ tradespeople, Tho bananas for these are jilneed in tho ripening housesTW|*u> houses or chambers in number) ere kept, _ perfectly dark, but at tba same tinie well ventilated. They are boated to a temperature of 70.1eg- Fflh. .In a few days the fruit ripens and is r«wy to r distribution. Another interesting depart .pent in the m por floor is the arrangement for sorting out snefl perishable joods as oranges and lemons, -I be damaged fruit technically known as “specked fruit" is picked out, while the a-ood fruit is left on the racks to dry. fn passing,- it may be mentioned that! this “specked fruit” is now being manufactured into an excellent wine; there is apparently no waste nowadays. Shipments of fruit from Australia, Tasmania, - and different parts of the colony are constantly arriving at Laery s. In | conclusion it may be stated that it , would be a difficult matter to name any class of farm produce, from a pair of ducks to a bale of wool, which Laery and Co., Ltd., are not called upon to : sell for some one or other of the enter- i prising and intelligent settlers peopling a wide extent of country of which Wel-lino-ton is the centre, at one time or : another. Such is the extent and variety of the connection that the firm have'built up in the years gone by that in no case have they ever been at a loss ; to find a ready customer. It is patent, therefore, that firms like Laery s , render excellent service to the community and form an important factor in developing the resources of the colour.