DICKEY LEGISLATION.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 149, 21 July 1883, Page 3

DICKEY LEGISLATION.

The Hon. Mr Dick's bill, entitled " The Auctioneer's Act, 1883," is open to one or. two serious objections. Paragraph. 15 proposes, tkp.t "every . auctioneer's license, for so lorjg .as itjis in force, shall authorise the holder thereof to conduct auction sales in any part of the. .Colony, Such & law would be liable to serious .abuse, and might lead toa considerable,. amount of injustice. -.Let us suppose that A, residing in .Auckland, 'proposes to sell his property by auction, and that {ihe commission thereon is. worth say^a hundred, pounds. If, instead of employing. 18, the local auctioneer, he chooses to call in his friend C, also an auctioneer, from Dunedin, who conducts the. sale out of friendship— for nothing, of course, poor Bis left out in the coldj and deprived of business which he has a legitimate right to expect. Surely there • are ■ sufficient resident auctioneers in every town and Village all over the country, without .encouraging a class of peripatetic prowlers, which would be..sure to spring wp, to the great detriment of established and respqns- r — ible men. Paragraph. 17, provides, thai;., "no person holding 'a piibliean's license, nor • any person in partnership . with such a person, shall be competent to hold an, auctioneer's license under this Act." This appears somewhat arbitrary. We fail to see why publicans or their partners are not capable of making 'as competent and upright auctioneers fas obher|.smners. In fact, particularly iin- country pla|e|» Bohiface is often the best educated and most" Inergltic man in the place. We fail to jsee why selling beer should disqualify a man from knocking down furniture or disposing of sheep or cattle. " -_ ; ._ "a ,

But paragraph 20 is es especially onerous ; ifc recommends that " every auctioneer who conducts any sale shall, within seven- clear tfay-s, after the termination of such sale, render _ an account of the proceeds of such sale to every, person entitled thereto, and in case of failure to, do. so , shall be deemed to have committed an offence., against this Act, and shall be liable for each such offence to a penalty not exceeding: twenty pounds." This opens,. be door to vexatious persecution by designing and unscrupulous persons at once. How is it possible that an auctioneerjlite' Arthur, for instance, can iv every case render an account of every sale within seven days ? In this 4 case he might have, to render a dozen accounts to t One person, for large parcels, such as he deals with, are often divided and sub-divided, some goods' in one sale and some in others.- Say one 'sells a suite of furniture, and it suits the auctioneer, either for the convenience of sale or for my benefit, to get a better price, to place the chairs in one sale, the table in another, and the sofa in a third, with intervals of a week or ' so between each sale, it would certainly be unreasonable to expect him to give a separate accquntsald of each withia seven, days under a penalty ff twenty pounds. A •■ ,' / , .