SALE OF SURPLUS STOCK

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26971, 21 February 1953, Page 6

SALE OF SURPLUS STOCK

R.N.Z.A.F. EQUIPMENT AUCTIONED 8000 RADIO VALVES FOR £5l Surplus equipment from Royal New Zealand Air Force stores—from parachutes and rubber dinghies to brooms, carpet sweepers, scissors, and spoons —was sold, mostly at bargain prices, m a Christchurch auctioneer’s yard yesterday. Most of the interest centred on a huge quantity of radio and electrical equipment and the large stack of perspex sheets, but buyers came forward for even the most unlikely items such as a rusty shovel, a slightly bald broom without a handle, and a broken garden fork.

The outstanding sale for the bar-gain-hunters was the disposal of 8000 radio valves, said to be worth at least £5OOO, for £5l. The valves were .all brand-new and in the makers’ packing, and varied from miniature tubes little more than an inch long to huge transmitter valves. Two buyers bid on this lot and started at £2O. About 400 persons were crowded into the auctioneer’s yard during the lunch hour. Many of the women present were evidently interested in the pillows, blankets, and sheets advertised for sale, but they were disappointed. Faced with a huge stock of 232 kapok pillows, the auctioneer turned to the crowd and asked for a price for the lot. They were sold for £l6, a little more than Is each. All were used, but were in good condition. Sixteen and a half pairs of sheets were sold together for £lO, and a pile of blankets, most of them with holes burnt in them, w 7 ere sold for £lO.

Standard model typewriters were sold for prices varying from £4 to £ 14. Most had had a considerable amount of use and needed adjustment, but the best ones were in very good order. ‘

Voltmeters, most of them’ covering high ranges, sold for about 30s to £2, and miscellaneous meters brought similar prices. Many of these instruments were new. One-valve radio receivers sold for 6s and Bs. and oscillators and amplifiers brought equally low prices. A carefully counted and packaged lot of 1362 £-in steel nuts was sold for 14s, and 1980 U-in wood screws for ss. The parachutes offered were sold for . f. a . nd £5. and the rubber dinghies sold for up to £6. A sawbench brought £6O, and aircraft wheels sold for £2 12s 6d. Hundreds of sheets of perspex of varying gauges made about Is a square foot, and found ready buyers at this price. A lot of 225 feet of (in garden hose was sold for £7, and alriiost new picks and hand grubbers were sold for 8s each. The auctioneer was able to sell only part of the equipment in his yard, and he will continue the sale on Tuesdav.