NOT AN AUCTIONEER

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 290, 3 September 1931, Page 8

NOT AN AUCTIONEER

Case Against Land Agent DISMISSAL OF CHARGE In a reserved judgment delivered in the Lower Hutt Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., dismissed the charge against Lewis Wilson Ferguson, a laud agent of Lower Hutt, of having held himself out as an auctioneer, not being the holder of an auctioneer’s license. Mr. C. R. Barrett appeared for Ferguson.

Defendant, who is a land agent, had a notice on the window of his office in Lower Hutt, “Auction Sales Arranged.” He arranged with Mr. Davidson, au auctioneer of the firm of J. Kingsway, Ltd., Wellington, to sell furniture by auction. The advertising in the Press was attended to by Davidson, and Ferguson made all arrangements for the actual sale, performed all the duties of auctioneer’s clerk at the sale, collected the proceeds, and paid to the auctioneer his share of commission.

Assuming that the case of Police v. Seccombe, on which the police relied in the present case, had been correctly decided, the magistrate said he did not think Ferguson could be convicted. That case, he continued, was clearly distinguishable from the present one, mainly because of the difference in the newspaper advertisements of the sale. Ferguson might have been convicted because of the part he played in arranging for the sale, and the part he took in the sale itself were it not for the evidence of Mr. A. Gellatly, who was associated with Bethune and Co., a firm of many years’ standing, nnd who was a member of the Real Estate Institute. The evidence given by him was to the effect that it was customary for land agents and auctioneers to act together for the holding of auction sales, just as was done in the present case. That being so, the public would presumably know the respective roles of the parties and would not be led to believe that the defendant Ferguson was a licensed auctioneer, either because of his part in the salo or of the notice on his premises.