BUYING A PIG IN A POKE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 255, 25 July 1935, Page 11

BUYING A PIG IN A POKE

Railway Auction Held READY SALE FOR MYSTERY PARCELS Three hundied and seventy-five pigs were bought tin three hundred and seventy-five pffkes at Wellington yesterday. The Railway Department held its annual sale of unclaimed luggage, and the result should convince every auctioneer who is finding the times hard that the best way of disposing of his lots is to | wrap them up into mysterious bro'),vn paper parcels and leave the restito the imagination of his audience. The sale was) held at the Railway Social Hall in Waterloo Quay. It was timed to start sat 10.30 a.m. At 9 o’clock the froint benches were fully occupied, and when the auctioneer strode purposefully in there were more than 15(1 men au<l women to listen to him. Some of tibein did not budge from their places\until the last article had been sold. Tta-’n they went home filled with pleasant anticipation to discover what they h«kl bought. They did not knowiwhat was in those serried rows of parcels spread out on the lioor in front ojf'‘ them, but their minds eould envisage, all sorts of delightful surprises, aud they were more than eager to gamhfle on their luck. Bids sprang from ftvo shillings to twenty, nothing wasiput aside unsold; u mattress in a print liootl, with a pair of garden sheaisi)thrust inside, brought 4/6 as was shown, 23 b;’_s of ground pumice started at 17/6 aud sold for 37/65 bundles of umbrellas fetched from SX-l to 15/-, and most of the parcels weiitlfor from 2/6 to 10/-. “Lot 274,” shouts tine auctioneer. “What am I bid? A <good parcel. Come on, you never knokv your luck. Two and a-half. Three, 'Tjbree and ahalf. Am I bid four bob? Am 1 bid four bob? Four over there. Four and a-half. Going for four affid qi-half. A man over there for four iantf. a-half.”

And so it goes on. Umbrellas, a hockey stick, a pram, pidtiires, suitcases, a parcel of kapok, tcrinls rackets, a motor wheel, and hundreds; of parcels whom nobody knew whatjthey contained, but which, a little private inquiry elicited, had in them everything from clothes to a straw hat, fipnd bools to a bottle of emulsion, from, hats |to tobacco pouches, from gloves to; (spectacles, from a fur necklet to a' ukulele. Every parcel had a small selection made up by the officials, (If), the first article was a woman’s hail second would be a pair of gloves, 1 some stockings, a cardigan. If it was!a man’s cigarette case, the other thing: may be a tobacco pouch, a pair ofg tirousers, a hat. But what happens ft til widow buys a parcel meant for ainimn? And what did the person say Who bought a sack of fungus, delectable for a Chinese savoury? What happened, too, to the rug that held a sweet-maker's outfit, copper boiler and tall?: Still, everything was a gamble, ewrylbid an exhilarating sport.

For the Railway Department the sale was the culmination; of two months’ hard work. The (regulations demand that all lost or ijnclaimed luggage and goods should be; held for three months before they axel auctioned. But thev arc generally (kept) longer than that, and exhaustive inquiries are made to find the owners. Sometimes the owner is .so frightened by tine Storage fees due on his forgotten wkullele, bag of potatoes, or spectacles, thajUhe does not mind if they are sold. , In that event, however, the department generally comes to some arrangemient with him.

But sometimes the owner Is dead. Quite often a package was, left by somebody who had no intention ever of reclaiming it. One manjjbrouglit his dog to Wellington by train.. He took it out of the crate, left the 'box at the left luggage office, and went off. Occasionally, as is the case with two of the packages at present being pield by. the authorities, the ow’ner is in- prison.

The sale goes on. One mart has come all the way from Christcpuneh to attend the auction. He bujw, a heterogeneous collection of things, having them stacked up in one Conner for him until it seems that the frelgiitafie he will have to pay will be worth more than the contents. At the* and of the day everything lias gone,, aud the department generally lias i about £lOO to show for It.