LOST PROPERTY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 6

LOST PROPERTY.

'GOODS'EEFT .IN; TEAMCAEfI. SOLD' "AT A GEEAT SACEIFICE." "Here, you are-rfour umbrellas; good ones, too. Open 'em up.' Four umbrellas —what ,do. you say.? ; -Shilling, shilling, shilling, eighteenpehce—they're yours! Can't wait;; you- must.'bid quick if' you want the goods.":'..'. ■ .:. x■ : ■ . The scene was the-stage end, ■ the. goods "lost properly" 'found-in' , the', tramcars, the auctioneer!'Mr'." ! James- ; DqyJe, Ghief Inspector.'.: When , a'"Dominion . representative looked;'in;;'Mr.' Doyle,v ; from the centre of-, the stage,.. was i talking at a half-circle of a hundred people or two, and'before him' on the-stage were goods enough to furnish a second-hand shop. ■Ho cas on' umbrellas—hundreds of' umbrellas there seemed to.be piled..up. on the stage,, offering, silent, : testimony to the inherent.. forgetfulness.- of., ,womankiiid. Wack umbrellas preponderated, but there were.,a few with a touch of. white, .and a . dozen sunshades—gay . remembrancers of ;sunny 'days.. ;Twq :for v _half,-a-crown, two .'.for two shillings,'. pence—the 'price receded as the people became . supplied' with ■ umbrellas,, when four had to be offered to: draw , ,'.a bid.-of a couple of shillings. Many of them were really good,\silk, withva touch-.of silver about the handle.' All were good for further :service... ... . ' ,'.v.■ | -'. .'

Numerically, umbrellas were completely outclassed, by ladiesVpurses... There must have been a couple of-thundred purses and bagST-black purses,- -.- with i straps, brown "purses, 1 with.;snap clasps, chain purses,' chamois leather ' purses, Peggy bagsi in chintz., designs,". Peter.'Pan. bags, and:. plain leather bags', ; .Think of the worry and anxiety the'yi'mu'sfc. have caused poor, .mothers, and forgetful,-..daughters, and,'with it all, it had never struck 1 them to call at the tramway : lost property office. Ladies losing their purses or umbrellas, should always . remember the train; Yesterday's bargain' Sale taught a few. the' lesson. "'. , . *''! The purses werO , absolutory• slaughtered. At ,ufsty, l -p'air'B;'.brpught. half-fccjown and two shillings, but the going_ ■'was too slow., -and...finally...six., .and...nine were "going"-' for a; shilling, ,and t eighteupence. One: person .bought tfour." chain'- bags' for two shillings, and found-one to be made of alyeryof; the' finest mesh. Another bought six purses for a. shilling, and found in one a shilling's worth of tram tickets.. Of course,: the purses had been searched for money, but here and thero one would find a few papers—bills, mostly, draper's—stowed' away in the back apartments. of theirVpurchases; ' Thro were half-a-dozen walking sticks —found' in. late cars,.'.of,..course; .plenty of marketing' nets, with and without contents, a pile of coats, half-a-tlozen brief bags, a. few-baskets'-full'of clothes, a couple of dog-hooks, a whisky-jar, a raspberry bucket, a syphon,, a signalling flag, and a child's spade. .411 were cleared out by Mr. Doyle "at a ,grekt sacrifice. , " The sale has its moral—"When lost, try the tramway office!" .