THE WESTERFIELD SALE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 112, 12 June 1880, Page 2

THE WESTERFIELD SALE.

Old residents in the Ashburton district will have a vivid remembrance of the very large attendance and excited bidding which are associated with the auction sales in the county about two or three years since; but the oldest resident and the most regular attendant at the auctioneer’s side would fail to carry his memory back to a more satisfactory sale than that which took place at Westerfield station yesterday, when Mr. Campbell, the bluff and jovial “Knight of the hammer,” of the firm of Acland, Campbell, and Co., submitted to sale the valuable stock and farm implements belonging to C. W. Hawdon, Esq. A special train had been put on for the benefit of those who had come from Chris: church to attend,, and it left Ashburton, with a goodly crowd of both strangers and townspeople, while the fine sunny weather, a sine qua non of a successful sale anywhere, attracted a large number of horsemen and others to the locality , and, while perhaps drawn there by curiosity, the splended stock which was brought under their notice, together with the peculiar infatuation which people seem to be under while listening to Mr. Campbell’s descriptive powers resulted in those that came to see and hear remaining to bid. The fame of the late Mr. Charles Reed as a breeder of sheep has spread far and wide. His name appeared in every prize list in the South Island that \vas worth trying for a place on, and his wool took a high stand at Sydney Exhibition amongst the best growers in the Southern Hemisphere. His known carefulness in everything that appertained to the conduct of his station was proverbial, and it is no matter for surprise that, when his property passed to other hands and came to the hammer, we found his spirit still living in it, and his reputation as a wool raiser bringing intending stock buyers to his homestead from far and near. Some estimate may be formed of the numerous attendance and the spirited bidding, in that, although only one-half of the stock and implements were disposed of, what did come to the hammer, realised Ll,loo. The prices as a whole were considered highly satisfactory, the following being an analysis of the business done :—Store cattle, L 3 2s. Gd. to L 5 ; calves, LI 10s. ; milch cows, from L 5 to L 7 12s. Gd. A lot of heifers in calf, from LG 2s. Gd to L 8 2s. Gd. ; prime Lincoln ewes, L 3 10s. each ; Lincoln rams from L2 10s. to L 4 15s. each; draught horses from L2O to L 35 10s. Donald McLean, Esq., was a large purchaser of sheep, and John Grigg, Esq., secured some fine cattle, a number of other local gentlemen being also among the purchasers. In consequence of there being such a large quantity of stock and implements still to be disposed of, the sale is announced to be continued to-day, at 11 a. m.