372 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



compelled to appear personally 

 at such sales, to prohibit the same 

 being carried on in their names, 

 knowing such was done with a 

 view to impose on the public. 



Your Committee find also, that 

 sales are made of linen, describing 

 the same as foreign, and the pro- 

 perty of Hamburgh and foreign 

 merchants ; also cutlery wares, 

 and plated goods, in particular, 

 of the most inferior manufacture, 

 with London makers' names 

 thereon, publicly declared and 

 sold as London manufacture; and 

 to such an extent as to compel 

 the London makers to appear in 

 the sale rooms, and in person 

 expose the fraud and imposition 

 attempted to be practised. 



Your Committee also find, that 

 great frauds and impositions have 

 been practised in the sales of 

 wine, misrepresenting it as the 

 property of individuals of res- 

 pectability ; and in short, there 

 has been scarcely an article 

 which at auction has not been 

 grossly misrepresented : — That 

 sales are often made without 

 attending to the due order of the 

 catalogue, and sometimes without 

 any catalogue, and at others with 

 the same catalogue used for manj' 

 days sales ; and the Committee 

 in this investigation have dis- 

 covered, that great frauds have 

 been committed upon the revenue, 

 inasmuch as at times no sale has 

 been returned, and at other times 

 less in amount returned than 

 absolutely sold ; and that various 

 prosecutions have been from time 

 to time necessarily instituted by 

 the Excise board. 



Your Committee have reason 

 to suppose, that the facility given 

 to these sales, by describing 



property falsely as to ownership, 

 affords ready means of selling 

 goods dishonestly come by, and 

 holds out the means of the evil- 

 disposed debtor to sell fraudu- 

 lently the creditor's property, to 

 a great and serious injury to the 

 honest trader, raising money (as 

 it is termed) by any sacrifice of 

 price. 



That the inferiority of manu- 

 facture so sold and mis-stated is 

 of national injury, and your 

 Committee have had instances 

 stated where an exporter hag 

 immediately shipped the articles 

 bought, vamped up for the 

 express purpose of deception, 

 and which was not discovered till 

 opened, and no responsibihty 

 attaching to the auctioneer, the 

 buyers are left without a remedy: 

 That while these daily sales exist 

 without check or control, the 

 regular manufacturer and trades- 

 man are but little resorted to, 

 and who, your Committee sub- 

 mit (both buyer and seller), are 

 entitled to every protection; by 

 reason, — 1st. That the taxes of 

 the country, and the poor, fall 

 very heavy on the established 

 and fixed house-keeper, while the 

 itinerant auctioneer, as many 

 travel from place to place, avoid 

 paying any taxes; — and, 2dly, 

 That a proper responsibihty to 

 the buyer resting with them for 

 any imperfect or bad article sold, 

 and on whose judgment and 

 credit the buyer very often 

 places himself. Your Committee 

 consider these sales afford en- 

 couragement to the manufac- 

 turers of inferior articles of almost 

 every description, and are ruinous, 

 for the reasons before stated, to 

 the honourable and honest trades- 

 man, 



