§ MR. J. JOHNSON (Gateshead)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that Regulation 21 of the new Regulations recently issued by his Department prevents an inspector of weights and measures from stamping glass and earthenware measures on the premises of the manufacturer without the sanction of the Board of Trade, and that no such sanction is necessary for inspectors to stamp weights, scales, or even pewter measures on manufacturers' premises; whether he can give any reasons for that distinction, which is resented in the glass and earthenware manufacturing districts; and whether he will give instructions to have the regulation deleted.
(Answered by Mr. Kearley.) The stamping on manufacturers' premises of glass and earthenware measures is on a different footing from that of other measures or of weights or weighing instruments, inasmuch as in the case of the former measures alone an allowance may be made to the manufacturer, under Section 13 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1904, for assistance rendered by him or 226 for the use of tools, premises, machinery, or instruments. This allowance is expressly subject to the consent of the Board of Trade, and in order to prevent, as far as possible, allowances being improperly given without such consent, the stamping of the measures in question on manufacturers' premises without the sanction of the Department being obtained has been prohibited by the regulation referred to. There seems no reason why the regulation, which was framed to secure uniformity of practice, should be deleted.