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6

REPORT OE THE COMMITTEE ON

District to be ex officio Inspectors of Weights and Measures within such district. The duties of tho ex officio Inspectors are the same as those of any other Inspector of Weights and Measures, with the exception that they have not the power of adjusting and stamping with the county stamp. They have no power, therefore, to stamp the weights and measures of traders, and they have to confine their attention to the detection and punishment of fraud, and to affording the honest trader reasonable facilities of verifying the weights and measures which he has in use by comparison with tho sub-standards. 14. Then you are of opinion, judging from the working of the scheme in Victoria and Otago, that it would conduce to the effective carrying out of the law if the police were appointed to the offices of Inspectors of Weights and Measures ? —I am. 15. Do you think that adulteration in articles of food and drink is common in the Colony?—I do, particularly of the latter, and more especially on the gold fields. Prom this cause numbers of lunatics are annually sent down from thence and the out-districts of the Colony. I know this from my experience on the gold fields of Victoria and of Otago, and I believe it also exists at the Thames. 16. Do you know of any steps being taken by the Provincial Governments in those cases to check the evil ?—I do not. Tho great difficulty the Government have to contend with on the gold fields is the absence of competent analysts. 17. The Committee are desirous of obtaining samples of goods, &c, vended in other Provinces, for the purpose of analyzation: have you power over any of the Inspectors in the various Provinces, besides that of Auckland, to instruct them to carry this out ? —I have not; but I have no doubt that, upon my communicating with them on the subject, they will do so. Mr. J. 11. Marriott in attendance, and examined. 18. Chairman.] Tou aro Inspector of Weights and Measures in Wellington ?—I am. 19. Do hold your appointment under the present Act ?—I do. 20. How frequently do you make inspections of the weights and measures in use ? —I make a general inspection once or twice a year, when I have invariably found the weights over the standard. 21. Did the persons send their weights to your office to be examined and compared? —I have been in the habit of taking the standard weights to the shops of persons, and comparing their weights with them there. 22. Are you aware that it is contrary to the provisions of the Act to remove the weights from your office ? —I am not. 23. Do you keep a book in which the results of such examinations, and the respective dates, are registered ?—I have a book in which the results of examinations of weights sent to me are recorded, but I do not keep any record of examinations made by me at the shops of parties. 24. Have you ever made any reports to any one ? —I have, once or twice, by request of the Superintendent, sent in reports, but there has not been any made for five or six years. 25. Have you made any report since the last Act ? —I have not. 26. Mr. Macffarlane.] Were the visits to the shops, of which you speak, made of your own accord and without notice ? —Tes. 27. Mr. Bunny .] How do you visit; do you take each shop in regular rotation, or irregularly?— I begin at one end of the town, and visit the shops in succession. 28. Mr. Waring Taylor.] Then it would be easy for the person so visited to inform his neighbours that you were coming ? —lt might be so, but I do not think they would do it. 29. Mr. Bunny .] Are you Inspector for the whole Province ? —No ; but I have been requested to go to Wanganui, to inspect the weights and measures there. 30. What is your salary ? —I have £50 per annum, voted by the Provincial Council. 31. Within what radius do you consider your duties to be confined ? —Within the City, the Hutt, or Porirua; but I have not visited the Hutt for the last two years, nor have I visited stores in Porirua beyond Johnsonville. 32. Chairman.] Are you aware that, by the 22nd clause of the Act, it is prohibited to take the weights out of your office ? —I am not, but Ido not allow them to go out of my own hands. 33. Are you aware that you could compel persons to bring their weights and measures to you for examination ? —I am, but Ido not think it would be courteous to do so; besides, it would cause some inconvenience, as in many cases persons have only one set of weights. 34. Have you entered into a bond for the performance of your duties ? —I have not. 35. What is done with the fees received by you ? —They are paid in by me to that account. 36. Have you read tho new Act ?—I have not.