SHORT WEIGHT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 6 May 1911, Page 9

SHORT WEIGHT.

I Is it right that when a housewife buys, say, a pound of sugar, she should get a pound less the weight of the bag ? The question is being raised again in England, where there is talk of asking Parliament to insist that a shopkeeper shall either give customers full weight, or if the wrapping is included in the weight paid for, that, the customer ; shall be so informed. It is stated, in an interesting article in The Times, that save in the case of coal and bread, the law does not compel the dealer to give exactly what he is asked for. A shopkeeper, may be prosecuted for using fraudulent scales, but it is not an offence to give short weight, save in the articles mentioned, unless the vendor has given a false "trade description." The term "trade description" does not, it appears, apply to.the ordinary counter transaction. In Glasgow, many grocers aire scrupulous enough when weighing commodities to place a compensating bag or wrapper in the weight scale, to enable them to supply net weight to their customers, but the practice is on the decrease, owing, it is said, to the unfair competition of dealers who have realised the weakness of the law on the point. Some large firms, of course, do up their goods in packages bearing such notices as "Full weight, including wrapper;" "The weight of this package, including the wrapper, is half a pound;" but this does not dispose of the question whether the buyer is not entitled to full weight for his money. The public is indifferent on. the point, and the indifference is no doubt due to the fact that the loss on separate transactions is inconsiderable. j But the aggregate of loss to those who

buy, and of gain to those who sell, must be very great. A Liverpool tea firm, which does not weigh its wrappers with its tea, told a committee some time ago that it used nine tons of tea paper in a year at 3d alb, the tea selling at Is Bd, and their annual loss due to their policy of giving customers full weight was £1680. Figures like this make one realise what a difference the weight of wrappings makes in the long run. It is a cr.se of taking care of fractions of an ounce and the pounds will take care of themselves.