90 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



By auction, too, if the auctioneer has been well 

 chosen i.e., if he is a man who knows and who is 

 known to the timber trade a brisk competition is 

 obtained, and varieties of timber, for which, perhaps, 

 there is no local demand, sell freely to men from a 

 distance, who require such. 



Different districts represent different trades, and 

 different trades require various kinds of timber, and 

 thus a healthy spirit will pervade the sale. 



There are, of course, expenses attaching to sales by 

 auction which are avoided in private sales ; but, on 

 the other hand, competition is not rife in fact, is 

 often entirely absent ; and this, when the quantity to 

 be sold is large, will far outweigh the contingent ex- 

 penses. These expenses, however, to some extent 

 are normal, and attach to small and large sales 

 equally, so that they are little felt when dealing with 

 large figures, but become heavy charges on small 

 sales. This being the case, public auction cannot be 

 recommended when the transactions are small. The 

 question naturally arises what is the limit? Else- 

 where we have named 200 as the minimum, and see 

 no reason to alter this assertion. Under this amount 

 the percentage becomes onerous, and is not balanced 

 by increased prices gained by competition. 



Private sales, or sales by tender, which is another 

 form of private sale, should be resorted to for sales 

 under this amount, as the least possible expense will 

 attach. At the same time, whilst recommending sales 

 by auction, we do not for one moment condemn 

 private sales even for large quantities of timber. 

 There is much to recommend in private sales ; op- 



