SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BAN-NERMAN (Stirling Burghs)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that in certain auction marts where the cattle are placed separately on the weighing machine, and their weight indicated on the automatic dial, and they are afterwards driven into the ring and sold at so much per head, the dial has, owing to the carelessness of the auctioneer in neglecting to balance the machine, been found to be in error to the extent of as much as ½ cwt.; that the public are misled thereby as to the true weight of the animals offered for sale; and that these auctioneers, on being challenged for such inaccuracy, excuse themselves on the plea that they are not selling by weight; and whether it is a breach of the Weighing of Cattle Acts for auctioneers to exhibit any weight but the true one?
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Liverpool, West DerbyI am informed that complaint has recently been made with regard to the matters to which the right hon. Gentleman refers, and I would suggest that they should be brought to the notice of the local authority for the purposes of the Weights and Measures Acts. I do not think that the neglect of an auctioneer to keep a weighing machine properly balanced could properly be held to constitute an offence under the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Acts.