GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 206, 31 August 1868, Page 2

GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS.

To the Editor op the Nelson Evening Mail. Sir— ln this city of Nelson there are five auctioneers, who pay annually to the Government £40 for the license to pursue their business here. In fact £600 per annum makes its way into the Government chest from this source. There is also another anctioneer, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, who drives a famous trade, for he turns over a far larger amount per annum than the five gentlemen to whom I have alluded above, and his terms are, cash down on the nail, no credit given, and, moreover, he is not called upon to pay a license. * * This struck me as being a strange anomaly, when, being a few days ago in the Government Buildings, I saw this latter functionary selling the Government Wharf by public auction. The Wharf at Motueka is also advertised for sale at an early date, besides large quantities of the public lands advertised under similar circumstances. Being one of the knights of the hammer, I may be supposed to speak feelingly on this point, and perhaps selfishly , but all I ask is free trade and no favor. Why should the Government exercise this right to the injury of a body of men like the auctioneers of Nelson ? Publicans pay an annu 1 * 1 license to Government, and so do cabmen, but we do not hear of Government servants either selling nobblers or driving cabs. This would not be gentlemanly employment for such worthies, but " knocking down" is quite another thing. Such an arrangement might do very well for the limited requirements of a new colony, but I cannot but regard it as derogatory to the dignfty of a respectable Government in a settled community. Besides all this, the Government are actually losers by this arrangement, for it would pay them much better to employ a licensed auctioneer to conduct all their sales. Eor instance, the Government advertises land for sale : Lot No. 1, Section No. 1, in Quail Vailey, upset price, 10s. per acre. No buyers, and yet the land may be worth 40s. per acre. No one knows anything about it. It is withdrawn, and they pass on to the next lot. Immediately after the sale Mr A. steps into the Land Office, and buys the land offered for sale at 10s. per acre. He knows its whereabouts, value, &c. Now, if the same land were placed in the hands of a licensed auctioneer for sale, he would give a proper description of it, its capabilities, whether it consisted of bush, or fern, flax or swamp. This he could do without undue puffing, conscientiously, for an auctioneer does possess a conscience. What a purchaser wants to know is something of the nature of the article offered ior sale, whether it is good, bad, or indifferent. This information you cannot get at a Government saie. The present system of Government sales is unjust equally to the purchaser, the Ucensed auctioneer, and to the Government itself. I beg you to excuse my taking up so much of your valuable space, and I am, Yours, Sec, Auctioneer.