BEWARE OF SHODDY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2287, 16 July 1880, Page 2

BEWARE OF SHODDY.

The public of Timarn will do well to be on their guard against a smart young gentleman with a decidedly rich brogue, who has lately been paying a visit to numerous domiciles, spinning a most ingenious yarn, and getting rid of parcels of that most deceptive kind of material called “shoddy"’ on terms that are advantageous to the visitor, but ruinous to the purchaser. The practice of this smart youth is to call with a bundle of doeskin, or tweed under his arm, relate a plausible yarn about having been made a present of the material for the purpose of being made into a suit by his father as he was on the eve of departing from one of the Australian colonics, and wind up by expressing the desire to convert the stuff into cash “at a sacrifice” so as to facilitate his departure by railway. In this way we believe he has succeeded in doing a considerable trade, at the expense, not merely of legitimate tradesmen, but of the gullible purchasers, who find on examination, that the broadcloth they have invested in, is about at durable as brown wrapping paper. The other day, the youth withthe rich brogue and paternal bundle fell into a trap through calling with his inevitable parcel during business hours one morning on a resident at whose domicile he had left his “ only bundle in the world ” the evening before. Beingtaxed with the imposition and ordered off, lie somewhat impudently pulled out a fat roll of bank-notes, and then withdrew a hawker’s license, exclaiming, “ Look at that, me friend ; they can’t touch me.” Although reminded that a hawker’s license did nut authorise the sale of “ shoddy ’’ by false pretences he refused to be convinced that he was in the wrong. We understand that the youth with tiic “ brogue ” is not the only shoddy merchant that has been levying black mail from the canny and frugal housewives of Timarn lately, a roaring trade in this way being periodically driven by so-called runaway sailors. Moral—Stick to local drapers, and avoid artful dodgers with cheap bundles and ingenious stories.