THE BANANA KING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13928, 11 June 1909, Page 4

THE BANANA KING.

Twenty-tivo jears ago, recounts a Lancashire paper, a young Li\ ci pool merchant imported liom th<> West Indies ten shillingsworth ol bananas Hf was making an exponment — he wanted to see it they could he sold in lOiigland at a profit. People in tho.se days knew •o little about the lruit th.it iriends confidently predicted there would be no sale tor them,, anil their anticipations certainly were justified. But the trader happened to be a particularly keen business man, and he continued to bring m his weekly ton shillingsworth, cheerfully losing on tho venture. while ho slowly made an impression on the public palate. The same man is now importing ten million bunches of bananas a year, and he calmly told me the other day that tho business is only m its infancy ' Is it any wondei\ when you renienibo" such an achievement, that he bears fhe title of "The Banana King" s Ho has another name, of course, but it isn't half so interesting, although under the ornamentation oi knighthood, it has developed into Sir Alfred Jones. KC.M.G.. With tho .same confidence, which did so much ior him in oarh lite, ho is displaying in Liverpool and tho Empire tho resource that lias mid" him world-famed. His only regret that he did not aftunlU- invent t!r banana, but ho has tried hard to makt up in other ways for that oversight He started work in tho Mersey oilas an office boy earning haU-n-erowi per week ; now he is so wealthy that h confesses he does not know how _nnic' ho is worth At fi3 he is as actuo n many men of 40. and to meet him v the street yon would at first yid>o bin to be a man whom the. world of com merce has treated with ordinary geu erositv. It is only when you glance a those 'keen eyes, shining beneath dark bushy brows, note his quick gi asp o overv subject with which he den's o - listen to one of his aphorisms that v occurs to you the man is out ot tlu ordinary. He is a familar hauro v Liverpool commercial circles, with hi' greyish hair, side whiskers, and a litt'. tuft on the chin, which suggests „.„ aptly that he cares very .little foi fashion. The sallow-complexioned faer has at times a rather weary oxprcs< ion but it is always tho expression pi om who is fearless and daring as he is »on erous. .