Butcher's False Scale.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxii, Issue 6458, 30 December 1904, Page 4

Butcher's False Scale.

Jame3 Nelson and Sons (Limited), butohers, who are said to have about a thousand shops in Great Britain and Ireland, and whose central offices are at Charterhouse street, City, London, were recently summoned before Mr Curtis Gannett, at Marylebone, by Richard Thomas Pearce, inspector of weights and measures, for having in their possession for use for trade at 233, High street, Camden Town, a scale which was false. William Underwood, the late manager of the shop, of Arlington road, Camden Town, was summoned for committing fraud in the use of the scale

The Inspector gave evidence that on the evening of Oct 28 he visited the shop and found the manager Underwood in the act of weighing a joint of meat. When he had finished, witness tested the scale and found that it was lsoz againsfc the purchaser on every transaction, this being brought about by -£oz 0? moisture on the plate of the soale and a tin price ticket, weighing 1 : }-ok," which was placed underneath the plate, out of sight. Underwood explained that he placed the ticket there because he could not make his returns tally with tha amount of meat he received from the firm. He also said he was driven to do it to ujake both ends meet.

Mr Rickette, on behalf of the company, pointed out the extreme importance of the matter, in view of their extensive business operations, and explained in detail the means taken by the company to ensure, as he said, their customers recoiving all that they paid for. The weights and scales were tested quarterly by tha makers, and in addition to that the company employed a district inspector and a district manager to see that they were kept in order. As n matter of fact, the manager had visited the shop an hour and a half beforo the prosecuting: inspector called, and tho scale was then a 1 right. The tin ticket must, therefore, have been inserted after he had gone. The company's case was that they were no parties to the fraud, aud tbat it was committed by Underwood for his own purposes. Incidentally, Mr Ricketts mentioned that the business at this particular shop had shown a loss during the whole timo Underwood had been managing it, the losses for the weeks in October beiny £i Ba, £» ss, 10?, £8 2s sd, and .£703 Id. Ifc was eigniucant, however, J;hat after bo was discharged the loss went down to £3 153 lOd, and it was expeetod that afc tho end of the present week there would be n profit. Anthony Elliott, the general manager of the firm, bore out this statement, ard men'ioned, incidentally, fchafc 6uch was (he competition in tha trade that a 501b shaep only realised Is 2d profit.

Mr Clarke, in pleading guilty on boha'if of the defendant Tndenvood, urged in mitigation that he had been " screwed up " to do what he had done by the reprosonta tives of the firm continually urging h'tn to produce better returns. Not a penny had gone into his own pocket.

The defendant hirase'f said he was nob allowed sufficient beef to make the mutton pay, and being " broken hearted" wilh the trade, he gave notice to leave, but he was asked to stay on, and did so. He put the tin under the scale because it stuck.

Three previous convictions were proved against the company in respeot of weighing machines at their shops in Crescent-i%oad, plumstead, Green-street, Bethnal-green, and Roman-road, Bow. In the first place four tin tickets were placed under the scale, in the second a knife, and in the third a piece of fat. The fines imposed were in oach instance £5.

3VIr Ricketts stated that in each case the company's employes were to blame.

Mr Curtis Bennett said it was hard to discover who derived the profit from what Underwood had done, but clearly someone did. To his mind the system of driving bargains in order to " cut" competitors was hard upon the men employed, and, taken in conjunction with the fact that they had to gut rid of every piece of meat, regardless of price, and yet make a profit, it conduced bo their doing what was fraudulent in order to make the accounts turn out right. He 6ned the company ,£2O, with 17s costs, and Underwood £2, with 2s costs.