THE HOUSE PRICE RACKET
SIR,—In reply to Mr. W. H. Galletly (September 7th), I cannot see why there should be any difficulty in controlling the price of a house sold by auction. If your correspondent attends a sale of furniture by auction, he will almost certainly find certain lots in the catalogue with maximum prices specified. As an imaginary instance, say, "oak sideboard, £6 5s." Several people will prove willing to pay this amount, and the usual procedure is to cut a pack of cards to determine the "winner."
Nor can I see why there should be a special kind of offer described as a "voluntary -offer." Are not all such offers voluntary? If Mr. Galletly makes and his greengrocer accepts a "voluntary offer" of 3s. per lb. for tomatoes, the trader will be pro.0,,I1ed (if detected) just as if he himself had demanded he illegal rate. In the case of a house, an illegal transaction would be much more difficult to carry through because (,) the sum involved would be too big to be hidden ; (2) several respon- sible people would necessarily be involved, e.g., a solicitor, probably
two.—Yours, &c., J. D. BOHN. Rose Cottage, Berkhamsted, Herts.
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