§ MR. DANE (Fermanagh, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that a firm of weighbridge makers exhibited at 456 the recent Royal Dublin Society's Show at Ball's Bridge a cattle weighbridge, fitted with a dial and automatic indicator, with a view to its adoption by Fair and Market Authorities throughout Ireland; is he aware that the smallest division represents 14 lbs., and that the machine, therefore, is unsuited for the weighing of pigs and sheep; also, that there is no balance ball attached to the dial apparatus having a screw with revolving ball, enabling the weigh table to be readily and easily cleansed and balanced, so that the droppings of animals weighed may not be weighed in with the succeeding animal; is he aware that the Inspectors of Weights and Measures cannot apply the test for sensitiveness to these dials—namely, No. 55 of the Model Regulations, 1890, and that the water in the cistern that regulates the back weight within the cistern varies in weight through change of temperature, and that no sworn weigher will certify the weight from a dial machine; and whether he has caused inquiry to be made into the matter, and with what result?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)The Land Commissioners inform me that, having made inquiry, it does not appear that the particular machine referred to was specially exhibited with a view to its adoption by Market Authorities in Ireland. The Commissioners have not been applied to by any Market Authority to sanction, nor have they in any way indicated to any such Authority their preference for, the machine in question.