§ 59. Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the President of the Board of Trade how many complaints he has received from wholesale: purchasers of agricultural produce that some farmers do not possess proper scales for weighing that produce; and what steps he is taking to see that the same provisions, as to weights and measures, shall apply, in this connection, as are required from wholesalers and retailers.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Captain Waterhouse)No complaints of the lack of weighing machines for weighing farm produce have reached the Board of Trade, but I understand that my right hon. and gallant Friend, the Minister of Food, has reecived representations on the subject from the National Association of Corn and Agricultural Merchants, and that the matter is now under discussion between that Association and the National Farmers' Union. The Weights and Measures Acts apply to sales by farmers as they apply to sales by wholesale dealers, but in neither case do they require the seller to provide a weighing instrument.
§ Mr. Rhys DaviesWill the right hon. and gallant Gentleman bear in mind that it is not sufficient to have an Act of Parliament? Will he see that in the case of farmers, as in the case of wholesalers and retailers, the Act is implemented?
§ Captain WaterhouseMy information is that the Act is implemented but the farmers, like the wholesalers, do not need to have weighing machines on their premises.