Schedule 7.—(MISCELLANEOUS GOODS OTHER THAN FOODS.) (Hansard, 13 March 1963)

§ Mr. D. Price
I beg to move, in page 93, line 3, to leave out other than chair nails".
I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that it would be convenient to take with this Amendment the next Amendment, in line 18, at the end to insert: and notwithstanding anything in paragraph 2 of this Part of the Schedule, nails—

(i) when not pre-packed may he sold by retail by number;

(ii) may be pre-packed in or on a container marked with an indication of quantity by number".

§ Mr. Speaker
Yes, if that is the wish of the House.

§ Mr. Price
The effect of these two Amendments is to allow nails to be sold retail by number as well as by weight. At present, the Schedule requires that nails other than chair nails must be sold retail only by weight, or, if they are sold pre-packed, that the package must be marked with the net weight, subject in both cases to the exemption of sales in quantities of less than half an ounce.
On further consideration, we believe that this is unduly restrictive on both customer and shopkeeper. As hon. Member' know, nails are sold by weight, hut there are some kinds, particularly the larger ones, and not only chair nails, which are sold in very small quantities by number. Domestic users buying nails in small quantities often prefer to buy them by number so that they have the precise number required for the job in hand. I am sure that it is the common experience of hon. Members that, when one has a little job to do, one knows the particular size of nail one wants and one does not want to buy a lot of them, It is often convenient to buy half a dozen or a dozen. To require sales only by weight would, we feel, involve both customers and shopkeepers in unnecessary trouble. The Amendments would allow nails to be sold retail by number, or, if they are prepacked, with an indication of quantity by number, as an alternative to sale by weight. I commend them to the House.

§ Mr. Darling
In a sense, I am sorry that the Parliamentary Secretary has seized 1488 upon this weakness in the Bill. It gives the impression that chair nails and the purpose of the second Amendment escaped our attention. This is not so. We had it in mind to suggest to our friends that, in another place, this was a matter which they might consider, since we had come to the end of our tether.
Now that we are concluding the Report stage of the Bill, I thank the Parliamentary Secretaries for the very good job they have done in trying to get all the Amendments we have suggested incorporated in the Bill.