§ MR. M. H. SHAW-STEWART (Renfrew, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, if he is aware that since the passing of the Weighing of Cattle Act, 1891, some auctioneers are erecting within their cattle marts weighbridges with automatic dials, the smallest divisions of which show only quarters of hundredweights, so that the weight of cattle cannot be ascertained to a pound; and, if he will ascertain whether Inspectors of Weights and Measures can accurately apply the test for sensitiveness on a dial weigh-bridge of which the smallest division marks 28 lbs., whereas under No. 55 of the Model Regulations, 1890, the test is that 2 lbs. should move the finger of a 2-ton weigh-bridge?
§ MR. BRYCEI am aware that some auctioneers prefer to use dial weighbridges graduated in the manner mentioned by the hon. Member, but the testing of such machines as to sensitiveness does not rest with the Board of Trade, but with the Local Authorities who appoint the Inspectors of Weights and Measures. The test for sensitiveness could not be properly applied unless the graduations on the dial were of sufficient width to indicate the limits of sensitiveness, and the Standards Department had called the attention of some Inspectors to this test.