Displenishing Sale.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2435, 7 June 1890, Page 2

Displenishing Sale.

On Friday Messrs Bland and Humpherys, auctioneers, held what in North Britain ia called a " displenishing sale," that ia a sale at which all the live and dead stock on a farm is to be cleared off by public auction and without reserve. The sale under notice .was held at the farm of Mr|Thomas Langley, at Dromore, who had- elected to clear, out everything he had upon his farm. Mr Langley has a high reputation as a breeder of horses, and generally as a judge of horse flesh, and this being so, a large crowd at the sale was onlyj what might nave been expected. Quite" 590 people of one sort and another were on the ground before the day closed, and it said much for Mrs Langley's excellent management and ability as a caterer that all were' abundantly provided for at the luncheon table erected on the lawn at the homestead. There4s a great differ-' ence between the temper of a full man and that of a man' fasting, but thanks to Mra Langley's good offices this difference was effectually removed. The sale began with commendable punctuality at the advertised time, Mr Bland opening with the usual small lots of odds and ends of nuts and screws, tools, extras for machines, and so forth, that must inevitably collect upon a farm in the course of a few years. .These, with the implements fetched very goo.d prices indeed, and, having been disposed of, as well as a stack of oats which' was also well sold, Mr BLuid essayed the sheep; 210 fat crossbred wethers were sold; to Mr Mark' Ballance for^ 13s 6cl a head,,and thesame buyer secured 37 hoggets at 9s. . Messrs Wilkinson, of Chertsey, and D. Brick, of Gurrane, obtained, the former 200 crossbred' lambs at 7s lid and the latter the remainder of the pen—266—at 7s 9d: A lot of cattle next claimed attention, and the best price obtained was £j 7s 6d for a good dairy cow in full profit, while £4, £3 2s 6d, £3, and £2 17s 6d were obtained, for the others. Six pigs were sold at ISs each, and then the crop of turnips was put up. Forty-five acres svero sold at 17s per acre, and another 25 brought 14?. Then came the chief attraction of the day—the horse 3. Some twenty in all were put up, and the now well-known mare Marchioness, bred on Mount Hutt station, and a successful competitor in the Ashburton show ring while the property of Clarke Bros., elicited a spirited competition, finally finding a buyer in Mr Rogers at £30. Another well-known mare, Polly Wallace, was run up to £22, and parted with at that figure; A fine line of good useful draughts from five to seven years old fetched from £20 down to £11 10s, while the aged brought from £7 to £9. The string of young stock sold very well, bringing from £5 5s to £11 10s. Hacks and harness horses brought from £7.105t0 £8, but there were only two or three of these offered. The two entires owned by Mr Langley were also put up, but he declined to part with the grand young sire, Conqueror, at- tlie best bid received, £250, while Athelstane, now getting into the sere and yellow, was knocked down to Mr Bain, his groom, for 50gs. Mr Langley announced to begin with that, except on the entires not a penny of reserve had been placed on any of the stock, and it must be said for him that he adhered strictly to the spirit of this announcement, and everything offered, with the exception mentioned was sold to the highest bidder. The sale all round was about as satisfactory a clearing sale as has been held this season in the county, and Messrs Bland and Humpherys must be congratulated upon their day's work. In this connection it may be mentioned Mr Peter Williams, auctioneer, gave Mr Bland a spell in selling the horses.