LEVIN MAN'S NIGHTMARE

Chronicle (Levin), 6 December 1947, Page 4

LEVIN MAN'S NIGHTMARE

3phone blitz foildws house fOr sALe NofiCE

At least one Levin resident h|s good cause to appreciate the full exteftt df the hdusing shdt'tage ih Wellington. . With a house . to sell in Hataitai, "vacant possession," he inserted a half inch advertisement in a Wellington eveiiihg' ^a^&ir. Anyone interested was instructed to 'ring a certain telephone num'ber in the city, and the advertisement was to afjpear fdf two donsecutive d'ayS; By 10 a.m. on 'the folldwihg day 255 callk were rdceiv'ed, With evefy rhihute registering ftirth'er calls. Sd gre'at "was the pressure dn the lihes a batty diie, that at one stagd it bi'oke 'dbwn . Witli ruthiess. efficiency the Pdst ahd Teiegraph bepartment was dh the jdb and his lifie was restbfed; The dthets did hdt "recdver" s§ quickly ari'd were out df drder fdr sdiiie tirne. By 10 a.m. the harr'assed advertiser was on the ddorstep of the hdwspaper offlce with a request fdr the immediate, withdrawal df the ndtice, and pleadi'ng vainly with tlie post office olficials fdr the 'discohnection of his lin'e. The advertisement waS inserted by Mr. E. Tdmlinsoh, a local land estate agfent, for publicatidh on Tuesday afternodri. His representative^ Mr. V. E. Kirkbeck, was seht to Wellington to arrahge the sale. "I left Levin for Wellington at 1 3 o'clock that day, arriving at 4.45," said Mr. Kirkbeck. "Half >ah hbuf aftfer my departure toll calls started pouring ih, though the advertisement had given a Wellington number. When I arrived in Wellin'gton there werfe 27 telephone messages aw'aiting me and six pe.rsons on the doorstep. Froin then ohwards it was a nightmarish experience an'd in the end i Was forced to | muffle the phone."