SHORT-WEIGHT COAL?

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 141, 10 March 1920, Page 6

SHORT-WEIGHT COAL?

REINFORCEMENT FOR BOARD OF TRADE. The Prime Minister hinted yesterday morning that he might soon have to strengthen the Board of Trade because the nreseut board was unable to deal with all' the business handed' oyer to it. A denutation from the Petone Borough Council liad made a complaint that private coal dealers in Petone were delivering ciil in short-weight bags, and Mr. Massev said that if he could get a snecific complaint about this'he would hand the matter over to the board for investigation.' Unfortunately the board was verv busy at present, and was unable to deal with the matters it had alreadv in hand. The complaint about coal was that while the council was selling 1121b. of coal for a hundredweight, the dealers were selling 1001b. The Mayor of Petone mentioned a case in which he had had a bag weighed, and found it to contain onlv 791b, The Prime Minister ' asked whether nroof could not be obtained in this case, in which the bag was actually weiched. and whether bags could not bo weighed when delivered. . Mr M'Ewan said that in the case ho had mentioned he had no proof that the dealer had sold "a hundred-weighty He might have sold merely "a bag, without specifying weight. It was not possible for householders to weigh coal on delivery. None of them had the appliances to do it, and in any case the coal was probably tipped into a bin on delivery. ...,'. ~ •« Mr. Massev said that this practice, if it existed of delivering short-weight bags of eoal was a breach of the law, and if instances could be proved proceedings would be taken against the dealers.