§ MR. FORWOOD (Lancashire, Ormskirk)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the police in the Ormskirk Division of Lancashire, to whom the county authorities depute the duty of inspecting weights and measures, have not examined the weights and scales used at collieries, by which the quantity of coal raised by miners and their wages are ascertained, on the ground that such machines not being for use in sales to the general public, they do not come within the scope of their duties; whether such omission to inspect prevails in other mining districts; and, will he cause steps to be taken to inform the local authorities that the weights and scales used for the purpose of ascertaining colliers' wages are, by the Mines Regulation Act, placed under the inspection provided by the Weights and Measures Act, in the same manner as weights and scales used for general purposes of sale?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. CHILDERS) (Edinburgh, S.)I would remind the hon. Member, with regard to the first part of his Question, that the Weights and Measures Act is administered by the Board of Trade, and so any 1653 information as to the manner in which it is carried out would be in the possession of that Department, and not of the Home Office. I can only say that by Section 19 of the Mines Act, 1872, and by the amending Bill, of which I have given Notice, the Weights and Measures Act is applied to weights used at collieries in the same way as to weights used for the sale of any article. If there has been any irregularity in the administration of the Act the proper way would be for the manager of the colliery or the check-weigher to make a representation to the Inspector of Weights and Measures, who, as a public officer, is bound to give attention to the matter.