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AUCKLAND AUCTION KKU. 



seminary was incorporated in 1820, and lias four pro- 

 f, sMirx-i.iie uf rhi-Niian theology, one of erelesiasti- 

 cal history and church government, one of Biblical 

 criticism, and one of sacred rhetoric. The number 

 of students, in 18i5, was 47. Tin- building appropri- 

 ated to the seminary is a large stone edifice, contain- 

 ing rooms for students, a chapel, and \ aluahle library. 

 M.AXII, William Eden, Ion! ; a statesman who 

 had great influence in Pitt's ministry, and was employ- 

 ed in important embassies. He began his career, in 

 1778, as a mediator between the mother country and 

 the insurgent colonies in North America. He was 

 accompanied by lord Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, 

 i. .lolmstone, and lord Carlisle, upon this important 

 embassy ; but the result did not answer the expecta- 

 tions which had been formed from the talents of these 

 distinguished men, and nothing was left for England 

 but to acknowledge the independence of the colonies. 

 Afterwards, as a member of parliament, he had a 

 great influence in the reform of the penal laws, and, 

 with Howard and Blackstone, in the organization of 

 a new system of police, and a better mode of treating 

 prisoners. He subsequently held the important post 

 of secretary of state for Ireland, and, in 1785, was 

 ambassador extraordinary to the French court, to ne- 

 gociate a commercial treaty, which was concluded in 

 1786. During the first year of the French revolu- 

 tionary war, he was ambassador extraordinary to the 

 states general of the Netherlands : and, in this capa- 

 city, he had the greatest influence on the measures 

 which the crowd of events was constantly rendering 

 more complicated. After his return, his conduct was 

 subjected to an investigation by parliament, and was 

 declared to be unexceptionable. He died in 1814. 



AUCTION is a public sale, to the party offering the 

 highest price, where the buyers bid upon each other ; 

 or to the bidder who first accepts the terms offered by 

 the vender, where he sells by reducing his terms un- 

 til some one accepts them. This mode of sale was 

 in use among the Romans, called sub hast a, from its 

 being, in early times, a sale of the spoils taken in 

 war, under a spear erected as the signal of the auction. 

 The same signal was afterwards used in other sales, 

 which were made under the superintendence of par- 

 ticular tribunals. This mode of selling is subject 

 to particular regulations, by the laws of many com- 

 munities, the object of which is to prevent frauds, or 

 to levy a tax. In the time of lord Mansfield, a ques- 

 tion was made in the case of Bexwell vs. Christie 

 (Cowper's Reports, p. 395), whether a sale by auction 

 was fair, at which some one bid for the owner. The 

 subject was treated as being, in some measure, a 

 question of conscience, upon the supposition that the 

 real bidders supposed themselves to be bidding only 

 against other real bidders ; and the purchaser at the 

 sale, in that case, was held not to be bound by his bid, 

 because there had been by-bids on behalf of the ven- 

 der. But the decision, in that case, was subsequently 

 Hvemiled by lord Rosslyn, in the case of Conolly vs. 

 Parsons (3 Vesey Jr.'s Reports, p. 625), and again 

 by the master of the rolls in Bramley vs. Alt (3 

 Vesey Jr.'s Reports, p. 620), with one qualification, 

 however, in this latter case, viz., that if none bid, ex- 

 cept by bidders or puffers, against one real bidder, to 

 whom the article was struck off, he was not bound by 

 the purchase. There seems to be no reason for sup- 

 posing that a sale by auction would be void on this ac- 

 count, unless it were a violation of the conditions upon 

 which the auction was announced. It is evident that 

 the fairness or unfairness of this proceeding must de- 

 pend, in any case, very much upon a compliance with 

 the understanding entertained, or the conditions laid 

 down in respect to the sale ; and, certainly, it is not 

 universally understood that no bid will be made for 

 the vender. In regard to a tax upon sales by auction, 



there does not appear to be any good ground for it in 

 principle, and the same objections lie against this tax 

 that are made to the Spanish alcavala (q. v.), or tax 

 on private sales. The vender must pay the tax, and 

 a man's selling goods is not, in general, a proof, nor 

 the value of the goods a measure, of his ability to pay 

 a tax. So far from this is the fact, thai, in very many 

 instances, the poverty or straitened circumstances of 

 the vender are the cause of his putting up his property 

 at auction. When these sales are taxed, therefore, 

 the law makes many exceptions, with the intention 

 of preventing the tax from falling upon persons who 

 sell from necessity, rather than the expectation of 

 making a profit. Much discussion has been had upon 

 the effect of sales by auction, in an economical point 

 of view ; as, whether they give a facility to the intro- 

 duction of foreign manufactures, to the discourage- 

 ment and depression of the domestic, with which they 

 come into competition ; and whether they have a fa- 

 vourable or unfavourable influence upon the course of 

 production and consumption, considered as a part of 

 the general system of business and economy, inde- 

 pendently of their effect in respect to the introduction 

 of foreign fabrics or products. No general answer 

 can be made to these questions, since it must, in eaeli 

 case, depend, in some degree, upon the manner in 

 which the auctions are conducted. But, supposing 

 them to be conducted with perfect fairness and 

 honesty, it must then depend upon the condition 

 of the industry of the community. The German 

 fairs have an effect similar to that of auction wiles. 

 An extensive fair, or sale by auction, by show- 

 ing, and, in effect, exaggerating the surplus or defi- 

 ciency of articles, aggravates the stagnation in one 

 case, and enhances the prices in the other. All such 

 fluctuations tend to check and destroy the production 

 that is carried on upon a small scale. Those who 

 carry it on upon the largest scale, whether domestic 

 or foreign, will drive out the smaller ones, since they 

 will, as has been invariably proved, push on their 

 business, in spite of the sacrifices which they may be 

 obliged to make, and they gain an impetus which is 

 not easily checked. Whether auctions are injurious 

 or not, in either respect, will depend, therefore, up- 

 on the scale on which they are conducted, and the 

 extent of different systems or processes of produc- 

 tion, which are thus brought into competition. 

 Where there is a competition, they undoubtedly tend 

 to make it more close and direct, and if one of the. 

 rivals has any advantage at the time being, he is 

 likely to destroy the other ; or, if there be no other 

 advantage on either side, the party willing and able 

 to make the greatest sacrifices will eventually keep 

 possession of the market. 



AUCTIONEER ; a person who conducts sales by auction. 

 It is his duty to state the conditions of sale, to declare 

 the respective biddings, and to terminate the sale by 

 knocking, down the thing sold to the highest bidder. 

 An auctioneer is held to be lawfully authorized by 

 the purchaser to sign a contract for him, whether it 

 be for lands or goods. And his writing down the 

 name of the highest bidder in his book, is sufficient 

 to bind any other person for whom the highest, bid- 

 der purchased, even though such person be present, 

 provided he do not object before entry. Every auc- 

 tioneer must take out a license, renewable annually 

 on the 5th of July, for which he is charged 5 ; and if 

 fie sell goods for the sale of which an excise license is 

 specially required, he must also take out such license, 

 unless the goods be the property of a licensed per- 

 son, and sold for his behalf and on his entered premi- 

 ses, in which case such additional license is not re- 

 quired. (6 Geo. 4. c. 81.) Auctioneers within the 

 limits of the chief excise office in London are bound 

 when they receive their license, to give security to 



