ELUSIVE BARGAINS

Hokitika Guardian, 26 July 1932, Page 7

ELUSIVE BARGAINS

'SALE OF UNCLAIMED GOODS,

ANNUAL POLICE AUCTION

WELLINGTON, July 23

Cigarettes were sold yesterday at rather less than a shilling for 50. A tin containing iSQO of. them fetched 9s under the hammer at .the Polic 6 Department’s auction of unclaimed goods There are still “flfiipk” to be obtained at these annual sales of articles f ol ' which rightful owners cannot be found, but tire day of bargain feasts appears; to passed.' Competition has .beconie keen , and auction room habitues vie with those who seek used goods , because they can afford no others. Hundreds attended yesterday’s sale and the bidding was rapid throughout. Any single articles rejected were soon “disposed of. when coupled “ with more attractive items, v; '

:Fifearms ,were Jpst.on, the list., A repeating rifle attracted bids up to 14s. but the sale at that figure was disputed, and the weapon wks.put up again. The rival bidders at/14s became stubborn and rushed the bidding by shillings to 25a. . An ancient blunderbuss was bought for os,. and an assortment of. more or less modern rifles and guns fetched "from 6s to 16s. j jMute evidence of /much juvenile mischief in the shape gf }>alf ft, dozen con. fiscated airguns then appeared. They were bought for upwards of 4s apiece. Such a sale as this serves to indicate the extraordinary .variety of articles lost in a city, Why, for example, did somebody see fit to. carry about—and j ose —two large tobacco tins filled with assorted chocolate tablets and packets of sweets,?| Why did the person who mis’aid no fewer than 100 glass lenses, neatly packed in cardboard cases, not advertise the loss ?

Nobody at the sale seemed conceded about these psychological mysfrei ies. They bid steadily on, and the chocolates and lenses were absorbed t Ith the rest, the latter fetching Is 61. It was impossible -to dete nu .no a buyer’s choice from his or her citward appearance. .An elderly man se.nred goggles for a motor cyclist. A welldxease.d woman seemed dellgiitc i when a aheap handbag, much the worse for ■wear, and an incredibly o’a and motheaten feather boa were “knocked down" t’ her.

The sale, which lasted all aftevnyiu, accounted for bags, hats,- shoes,. coats, gloves, pairs of spectacles, bicycles, electric torches, tools—to mefiitibn only a few,. Two tins of .petrol,, plus epe tin. of oil, were sold for 28s. Twelve bottles of patent medicine’ labelled “nerve nuts" were bought for- Is 6d, Par. cels of 'dress niaterials, “undies," and a “nighty" were snapped up by women buyers. 1 Tt was a busy, successful afternoon, and the auctioneer, with his rattling hammer and prattling tongue, the perspiring assistant, the plain clothed constable who kept an eye ori the. proceedings, and lastly the buyers obviously enjoyed themselves.