HUNT TEN BOB!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 87, 6 July 1943, Page 5

HUNT TEN BOB!

SATURDAY MORNING'S ■ DIVERSION ' ' "Pickings from the "mart "Here you are ladies and' gentlemen ! The finest carpets you will see on the market to-day, absolutely as good as new ! No bugs, fleas, moths or borers ! What am. I bid ? What'll I start at? Eh, ten bob! Alright ten •bob, I got! Hunt "ten bob- Hunt -ten bob —hunt " 'Those who haven't paid a visit to Whakatane's auction mart on a Saturday morning, have simply not * completed their education. We can say this with conviction, having viewed the proceedings many times, .having marvelled at. the mask like places of the onlookers as they gaped fixedly at the linguistic feats of the :man who 'hunts ten bob,' and most, forcibly of all, having been duly -and repeatedly astounded at the record rates lie manages to extract irom the ring of passive faces around Jiim. '"Cannings mart on a Saturday morning, is one of the most pungent, .memories of Whakatane I still possess," writes a soldier from the Middle East, and wc can readily understand its retention. A Loquacious Fellow I". Obviously the sale revolves round £/ ithe centred figure of Mr Reeve Canning, who seems to take, it asf read .that he is expected to put on a regular stunt, all of his own. To .this end he has produced from his .own repertoire, a llow of selling -talk which for originality and snyppi--ness would lie hard to beat any •-where. Reeve delivers it with the . rapidity of a machine gun and his vwise cracks are often so thickly interspersed and involved that lie is -often auctioning another article before the chilly sea of faces about -him relaxes from its serious contemplation and concedes a belated snigger. However they are Reeve's public ..and he lias never oncc let them down. We are. quite satisfied that .many go there simply lor the piir- „ pose of. a weekly humour lesson At any rate we have not seen them buying anything.*

Ventillated Blankets "Now here's a splendid' pair of for you! Can't get them in the shops—A wonderful opportunity lor some one! What got some holes in? So the:y have—that's to let the -air in and the fleas out! Now what .am I hid'" So it goes on. Reeve is never stuck, a box of oddments in Avliieh .au egg heater figured was described .as a lawnmower and. spare parts. A tin of ancient plates, as a beautiful -set of crockery, a box of odd screws -and bolts as a mechanic's outfit. Everything is taken.good humouredJy and in the right "spirit. Perhaps that is why the chair which when .held, up J'clL to bits was described .as the latest in collapsable, seats. The laugh is never absent. The mix■ed crowd, Maori and Pake ha bid briskly for the goods vying with *cach otlvr and frequently demanding a re-sale.

And the Prices Does he get the prices? Canning's mart may definitely lie set down as the priciest establishment in town. .And the beauty of it is that tiie fpeople set the pace, pay up smiling, like it and come back for more. When we see double blankets fetching £7 a pair,, a pair of grey single ones £4 and sheets £4, we lay it either at the genius of Reeve who has stampeded public reason, or at the desperate shortage of such articles at the present time which makes the goods necessary at, any price. At any rate we take our hats off to the firm which in spite of diffi■culties has maintained, its activities throughout the difficult, war period •and, express the hope that it will long be able to maintain the connection that lias now become a definite feature of our community life.