§ MR. W. JACKS (Stirlingshire)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture, (1) whether he is aware that, at the general meeting of the Incorporated Society of Inspectors of Weights and Measures of Great Britain, held recently in Glasgow, the representative of Messrs. Henry Pooley & Son, weighbridge makers, stated, in the course of a discussion on the merits of dial cattle-weighing machines, that the sole reason why there was trouble with such machines was that auctioneers would not be at the expense of employing mechanics to keep them clean and in proper working order; and (2) whether the Board will take steps to compel all auctioneers who use such dial machines in their auction marts to employ whatever skilled assistance is necessary to keep the machines in an efficient state?
§ *MR. HERBERT GARDNERYes, I have seen a Report of the speech to which my hon. Friend refers, but there ought not to be any difficulty in securing the maintenance of weighing machines in proper working order. An auctioneer who is required to provide a weighing machine is also required to have its accuracy tested at least twice a year by the local inspector of weights and measures; and the local authorities for the purposes of the Weights and Measures Acts, have the same power with regard to the inspection and verification of such machines as they have with regard to all other weights and measures. It would, in my opinion, be very undesirable that I should in any way attempt to relieve the local authorities of their duties in this matter, and I have, in fact, no power to adopt the suggestion made in the second paragraph of the question.