NOVEL TRANSACTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26216, 29 July 1946, Page 4

NOVEL TRANSACTION

SALE OF MOTOR CAR NO MONEY PASSED OVER ASYLUM PATIENT’S FREE RIDE An amusing experience befel two Dunedin Students over the week-end when a passer-by offered to purchase their motor car. The students were brothers, and one was sitting in the car when he was approached by a man who admired the vehicle and invited him to put a price on it. The student named his price, and offered to give the prospective purchaser an opportunity to test the actual road performance of the car. The offer was accepted by the other with alacrity. The student drove the man down the North End of the city, and picked up his brother en route. The purchaser was given a turn at the wheel, and expressed himself as more than satisfied with the car.

Accordingly, the three went to a garage to complete the transaction, and one brother waited with the purchaser while the other went inside to get an official receipt for the deal. The purchaser took the proffered receipt without a word, stepped into the car, and drove away northwards. The student who gave him the receipt turned to his brother and asked him if he had got the money. With a slightly bewildered look, the other replied that he thought his brother had received it, as |ie had conducted the whole transaction.

The youths accordingly hired a taxi and gave frenzied chase to their departed vehicle, but without avail. The climax was yet to come, however. When the students reported their loss to the police yesterday, inquiries showed that the “purchaser” of the car had escaped from the Orokonui Mental Home, and had used the car to return there. The car has been restored to its owners.