§ MR. P. STANHOPE (Wednesbury)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been directed to the system of measuring coal, when sold in canal boat loads, which extensively prevails in the Midland mining districts; whether he is aware that, owing to the rough method of measurement adopted, and the absence of any system of control by weight, coal merchants are enabled to demand and exact an exaggerated and undeclared overweight, to the serious detriment of the coal owners, miners, and ratepayers of these districts; and, whether, if this practice is an illegal act in contravention of the provisions of the Weights and Measures Act, he will take steps to enforce the law?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)(who replied), said: The Board of Trade are aware of the practice referred to by the hon. Member; but they have no power to enforce the Weights and Measures Act, or to require the adoption of any particular mode of weighing coal. The practice has not been the subject of a legal decision.