The Daily News FRIDAY, AUGUST 10. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8178, 10 August 1906, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, AUGUST 10. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

"Give us this xlay our daily bread, and let it be full weight" might justly become an amendment of the ancient prayer. Although we are assured by the men who believe they know, that the ordinary white loaf is poor food and by no means the "staff of life " it is generally credited with being, it is still the most generally used food we have. In the recent prosecutions of bakers who have boen found guilty in several towns of supplying loaves that were short of the weight and in being unprovided with scales so that a customer might see whether he oi> she was gettiug what he or she paid for, it is to be presumed that the bakers were not aware that they were transgressing the law. As a matter of fact the New Zealand tradesman giye; too much trust and the cu-tomer takes too much on trust. The customer is ttn unenquiring individual, and in the matter of bread if it has been duly whitened with alum and strengthened with plenty of potatoes lie is not thinking much about the weight. * * •» *

Bakem nie required, as everyone knows, to stamp the weight on each loaf, and a leading baker in one of the cities Ims said that it is impossible to give the full weight in every case, as it would not pay to do so. It is, of eniii-M, obvious that the stamp on the loaf may therefore be misleading. Who ever sees a baker's rvr. t with a pair of scales in it? And ho ever saw a Mew Zealand baker give an extra slice with a short-weight loaf ? No one, of course, and yet lie is paid for the full weight. As bread plays so important a part in the domestic economy of the country, it is necessary that not o: ly sho.ild the loaf be made of good material but that, it should be absolutely above suspicion as to weight,

VVmr.E on the question of lood, did you ever see at >' pound " packet of any standard brand of butter with the weight plainly marked on the packet? You ask for a pound, and you pay for a pound, but you don't ask that it should be weighed, All the standard brands of butter may be overweight. It doesn't mention the fact on the label, It only mentions that it is butter, and the seller doesn't mention any fact except that, " butter is up." If the butter manufacturer and the seller are determined that the buyer shall pay a price in excess of the real value, tiie buyer lias a perfect right to demand that the weight shall be plainly marked on the packet, and not only this, but every pound or what purports to be a pj;n d—shall be weighed over the count j; just as if it were suga 1, or white lea '. The averago dealer in provisions is a busy man, and he is frequently in the habit of weighing up all sorts of commodities so as to be ready for the rush on Saturday night Bofore he hands you your six pound bag of sugar, or flour (which you have not seen him weigh) he does not place it on the scale. He should bo compelled to. He may bo as honest as the day, but he is not compelled to be. And the visits of the inspectors of weights and measures are like "angels' visits" - few and far between.

Is the multitude or things in tins there are few things indeed Jtliat are absolutely what they are represented to be or winch are marked with the weight or measure. Those small "legitimate" deceptions which nearly all manufacturers resort to may injure nobody much, and tliey certainly do not injure the manufacturers' pockets. Next time you make cofl'ee have a look at the tin. If, does not matter whoso tin. It will probably say on the label that while it is the finest coll'ee in the world, it has a small proportion of cliickory with it. Quite honest, of course, but you will have to look might hard for the poor little word " cliickory," and may see the word " coffee " all across the dining room. Of course the manufacturer doesn't want you to see the small word. Simply a "white" trade lie. And, by the way, you don't turn the cofl'ee —and cliickory—out and weigh it, do you ? You trust absolutely to the gentlemen in Edinburgh or London, or wherever it comes from. Strong fellows some of those factory hands! Able to squeeze a lot of overweight into a tin or package! * * * * When yon ask for a quart bottle of beer-if you ever do anything so sinful !—you do not expect to get a quart, of course; you get- a "reputed" quart. Tnat particular quart is not alarmed at its reputation, for it glaringly parades in a bottle that has two or three inches of false end. Glass is cheaper than spirits. To demonstrate this, just look at the beautiful thick quality one gets with a two shilling flask, Togo into the whole question of a halfpennyworth of liquor for sixpence and twopcmyworth of liqu »• for the same pi-ice is not our present intention. Am absurd custom for which the buyers and not the sellers ire responsible deserves only scorn. * s * >■

Lvex if the seller of everyday food were not in *,he habit of making a very fair margin of profit it would still be dishonest for him to fail to soli full weight, and to mark the weight on goo Is sold, but if lie has a good time as a genep.it thing, there isn't much excuse for short weight, adulteration, or deceit of any kind. It is a failing in human nature that a man wants to get rich quickly, but when he does so at the expense of the stomach politic he is not going about it in an honest way. Anti-short-weight arid anti-adultera-tion crusades take place about as often as the police raids on the Chinamen and gamblers generally. A good deal of fuss is made, a good many people are lined—and a good many years transpire before the authorities care anything more about the matter. In the matter of correct weights in comliiOn necessities of life, such as bread, butter, and such like commodities, there is too much laxity. The seller has a habit of asking the full measure for what he sells and the buyer should get into the habit of requiring the full measure for what he pays. The justice of such a plan is so obvious that even a Chicago millionaire might see it—ivjtlj a good, strong microscope.