FULL MEASURE WANTED.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1922, Page 4

FULL MEASURE WANTED.

WHERE HOUSEHOLDER LOSES. The householder •who pays for hair & ton of coal does not always get half a ton, according to members who questioned the Minister for Labor on the subject in the House of Representatives. The subject was mentioned when the Weights and Measures Amendment Bill was introduced. The Minister (Mr. Anderson) had explained that the Bill proposed to transfer the control of weights and measures from the Internal Affairs Department to the Labor Department, and to remedy a trouble that had existed for several years with regard to heavy weighing machines. It provided also that when weighing machines wer» condemned by a magistrate they need not necessarily be destroyed, but might be disposed of in some other manner. Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central) asked the Minister to make some provision for the inspection of weighing machines and methods at coal yards. He said lie was assured by many people that they did not always get full weight when they bought coal. The coal yards were not inspected in the way that grocers’ shops were inspected. Mr. H. A. Atmore (Nelson) mentioned the case of a butcher whose scales were confiscated in accordance with -law although their error was in favor of the customer. The scales gave the customer two extra pounds with every thirteen pounds, but it had been found that the law did not permit the return of the inaccurate scales to the owner.

Mr. J. Horn (Wakatipu) agreed that buyers of coal often got short measure. The Minister for Labor said that special inquiry was being made regarding the weights of coal. The Bill gave the Department discretionary power to return defective scales to the owners.

Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) added a suggestion that retailers of coal should be required to send scales with the carts, so that purchasers could see the sack* wegihed if they so desired.