154 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



case the seller benefits), or they may be allowed to have it at 

 their own price after a little weak bidding for the sake of 

 appearances. Generally speaking, however, running up prices 

 in order to spite an opponent is dangerous work on a large 

 scale, for it may end in the biter being bit when the hammer 

 falls to the runner-up, and the presence of two or three good 

 outsiders is usually sufficient to break up an average ring. 



But the fact remains that with little or no competition, 

 as when trade is bad or indifferent timber is offered, auction 

 sales usually result in lower prices being obtained than by 

 private treaty. When timber is put up for sale, no alterna- 

 tive exists but to take what is offered or refuse it. Where 

 a price is offered much below its fair market value, no doubt 

 it is perfectly justifiable to reserve it, and more especially if 

 the sale is only held occasionally and at long intervals. No 

 intending purchaser has a right to complain of a lot being 

 withdrawn when no offer is made which is at all approximate 

 to its market value. The same rule is applied to all sales by 

 auction, unless expressly held on the condition, " without 

 reserve." But it is, nevertheless, a fact that the discovery 

 or admission that a reserve is placed on timber sold in small 

 and numerous lots, tends to check free bidding more than 

 anything else. There is an impression that an auction sale 

 should be conducted on a give-and-take principle, and that 

 the buyer should have the same chance of securing a cheap 

 lot when competition is bad, as the seller has of securing 

 a good price when it is good. There is probably a good deal 

 of sound reasoning in this argument, and the timber proprie- 

 tor who sells annually by auction, without any reserve, has 

 usually better reasons for being satisfied with the results than 

 one who places a reserve on every lot and insists upon the 

 bidding reaching it before a sale is effected. The explanation 

 of this is not far to seek. In the one case, men come with 

 the intention of purchasing or attempting to purchase; in 

 the other, they usually take their cue from one another, and 

 in many cases attempt to spoil the sale in order to get 

 cheaper bargains later on. The owner who wants to get a 

 definite price for his timber should offer it standing, by 

 tender or by private treaty, and, when his expectations are 

 not realised, the timber can be left until prices improve. 



