NEW AUCTIONEERING FIRM

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2232, 8 November 1907, Page 2

NEW AUCTIONEERING FIRM

AN UP-TO-DATE BUSINESS

Yi sterday a “Times” reporter paid a visit to tlio Lowe street .auction mart, recently known ns the old mart, hut now ilie-christened Malcolm's Mart. Th 0 mart was very much changed from its former aspect, and presented a very bright and attractive "appearance. Tlhe whole place lias been thoroughly cleaned, anti the spacious auction room 3ias a pleasingly subdued light, tho manv windows having been frosted. 'There is a fine show of carpet squares and rugs on the walls of the .mart, the wares coming from England, Scotland, Japan and even India. Yesterday, the firm was receiving a largo consignment of massive furniture for a sale to ho held to-day, wardrobes, d i chess chests, a magnificent sideboard valued at £ls, and several very handsome brass bedsteads being the most noticeable. Erom the auction room with its largo and tasteful display of furniture of all kinds an adjournment was made to the prod.ice xoom. Hero there are .liens to accommodate 200 head of poultry. The room bus a. concrete floor, and its coolness m ikes it specially suitable for the purpose for which it is intended. The whole mart was alive with workers, who were putting the produce room in order, arranging furniture and carrying on the various operations necessary to prepare for a lig sale.

Mr F. S. Malcolm, the head of the new limn, kindly explained to tn P reporter tho firm’s methods of business. In .the first .place every client who places goods in the mart for sale receives a printed receipt on which every article is-separately mentioned, so that no mistake or dispute is •possible. Bv .-this means the firm is made responsible for the goods until the printed receipt is returned, to the firm and th e cash received from sale of the .goods is handed over to the owner. The firm makes a strong point of .prompt payments, and as soon 'as a sale is made the seller may obtain his cheque; jbut no credit is given. No charge is made for storage .and no commission is charged unless a sale is effected. Asked as to “.trotting” Mr Malcolm said: “In any conditions of sale we always stipulate that .the auctioneer may mate one hid for the owner. If this is “trotting” then we “trot,” hut not otherwise. When I told my audience (many years ago in Christchurch) that I intended to sell in a fair manner, without •• -y “trotting” or humbug they hardly believed me, hut very soon came to recognise thht it was quite possib’e to conduct a sale in a thoroughly straightforward manner.” Mr Malcolm was surprised to learn the high prices paid for almost all kinds of vegetables and produce, but. mentioned that .a shipment of Derwent potatoes to be received at an early date should considerably rel'eve the potato market. Mr Malcolm is by no means new to the auctioneering business, a.. 1 his long experience as valuer of furniture in various parts of the colony for over ten years enables liim to tell to a .nicety what any article should bring at auction, thus greatly helping clients in fixing reserves. In bis time .Mr Malcolm has valued the furniture in a large number of hotels, and for five years he was engaged in valuing the furniture in the branches of the Canterbury Farmers’ Co-oiieiutive Association. At 1.30 *p.m. to-day +he firm will offer at auction £2OO worth of new furniture and to-morrow a house of nearly new furniture will be submitted.