SHORT-WEIGHT BUTTER

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 514, 22 May 1909, Page 8

SHORT-WEIGHT BUTTER

IS IT ILLECAL? ■ .'At .least iwo/ writers; to I ,.newspapers.lately have alleged, that elabrt-weipjlifc. ij'ata .or . but-/ tor. have . been purchased in Wollington./Thia is a question that affects tho good name.'-of ..the trade, though.not so riiuclv the' factories,' who usually do not do tho patting. ' / The .legal: status of tho |retail packages of butter, is-apparently different from that of ■the. . Shortweight bbxSs^ 0 detected' byt&. staff /of tKe Dairy / Commissioner, /hayo this .season been the. subiects- of prosecutions,/and fines.../ But according to the Inspector of,-. Weights arid. Measures" at Wellington it is. not illegal for a ,'grocor to sell; a reputed pound; pat of. but--ter weighing less than that/weight;:./. That .officer told a Dominion representative recently . that although ho had, authority to seo that . all 'weights, and measures ; used in -tradeß were accurate; neither he nor, he believed, anybody/else had authority in'.rcspect'to short weight of goods .sold.. Under the' Sale_ of Food l and -Drugs Act of 1908- the supervision.of foods -sold'was placed 'entirely under tho Health Department,. and that Department had to see that-.bread was sold according '.to : weight. arid ' weighed 6h''-Mqifest..''.'.;But'''they''fhad'.'not';..lihe : 'isanid power in respect to.buttor,. which. : wjiß/sold, ;in accordance with ..custom,:, merely ■ - as .- a package:/ In this Respect'it,was in the same category as,a,packet of tea or,a tin;of'meat; '"ot. of condensed milk, or of coffee. •' . ' '; "You cannot," saicl • tho.. Inspector, "com-: pol a groccr to 'sell a pat of butter ./by ;^weight'. Ho could.: reply, : 'I/' l am' not; .going, .to- weigh it: you buy .it as ' apat' or not •at - all.' ;Your only remedy would he to' change' yqtrr grocer or change ; your brand of. butter.',' i Legislation ■;.(ho said) ; had 1 been proposed to..make it compulsory ■ that every ' package of food should bo labelled as to/tjie nature of the contents and-tho minimum;yrpight, but this legislation was not carried..;/, / , ;■ ' : It will ho news to many housewives'who .go shopping -to ; learn that' it is advisablo for them to 'weigh- ; the'. butter/they .buy; but' it, will-be reassuring to learn, from an in-, formant /who has been in: tho habit of frequently, placing the butter jocularly on his grocor's spales, that ho/has very rarely found tho butter short weight. .' : '/■ , . ; / 1 / . Prom inquiries inado in other. quarters.- it appears that under existing law-s'it: is illegal to sell dairy produce marked with .other yeight than, true net -weight;' But , the illegality apparently does not apply to' pound pats marked with/no weight at r all.:: If a grocer were, however,' selling' butter: in pats marked "lib.", he would be liablo to pros=•cutjpn by the Health - Department if a pat were found to be under weight; ■