The North Auckland Age TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1906. SHORT WEIGHT.

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 7, 18 September 1906, Page 4

The North Auckland Age TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1906. SHORT WEIGHT.

WITn ‘WHICH IS INCORPORATED “The Mangonui County Times” and “The Bay of Islands Times ”

, The member for Avon in the House of ■ Representatives recently made the re- ’ mark that “ the retail trade is guilty of practices of giving short weight.” This has drawn a protest from the Canterbury Grocers’lndustrial Union of employers, who consider that such a statement is absolutely untrue. That the retailers of Christchurch are models of . virtue and honesty we do not doubt, and anyhow we might as well believe they are as look for proof. But the remarks - by the member for Avon necessarily make one ponder over the inequality of the law relating to weights and measures, or rather the inefficient administration of that law. For instance, we frequently read of city and also country bakers being mulct in hgavy damages for selling light-weight bread, and the question often suggests itself—why are bakers always chosen as the delinquents? What about the storekeepers ? Are' they all honest ? Do they never sell a pound of tea an ounce or two short weight, or containing an ounce or more of adulteration ? The publican, too, does he always tender the standard nobbier of whisky whose brand is on the bottle ? Other tradesmen butchers, ironmongers, etc.—are they all honest ? One never hears of a butcher selling a pound of steak weighing 14 ounces, or an ironmonger whose seven-pound packets of nails weigh just *6|lbs. What about • those big concerns which buy off the i producer by weight ? Are their weights j never tested and found wanting? Is ( there no inspector to see farmers’ pro- < duce weighed by agents ? The meat 5 companies who buy by the ioolb. dead j

weight—are their weights always correct ? We would not say that, as a general rule, any particular class of tradesmen was dishonest, but we do know—and it is an unassailable fact—that modern competition has introduced many “tricks of the trade” which are absolutely fraudulent and immoral. It has often struck us that were the Act relating to weights and measures enforced in its entirety, without making fish of one and flesh of another, much good would be done, and the dishonest butcher and baker, and the wholesale and retail thief, would share and-share alike.