Bid to Avoid Delivery "Frauds"
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LABOUR M.P.s last week failed in an attempt to alter the clause in the Weights and Measures Bill which says that written quantity statements need not be supplied for retail sales from vehicles of solid fuel and wood not exceeding two cwt., and liquid fuel and lubricating oil not exceeding five gallons.
It was most important that these items should not be exempted, said Mr. Sydney Irving (Labour, Dartford), " for frauds were still prevalent in many parts of the country by people delivering fuel of this• kind. " Many deliveries are made when the householder is not present to receive the goods, and in the absence of a declaration of quantities purported to be delivered it is often impossible to take effective action."
Supporting him, Mrs. Harriet Slater (Labour, Stoke North) said this part of the Bill had caused some local authorities great concern because over the years they had built up a series of by-laws to eliminate these frauds, and were concerned that they were now to have these powers removed.
Asking that the Bill should not be changed—this was later agreed by 17 votes to 1.4—Mr. David Price, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, said the sales of these smaller quantities were roughly equivalent to across-thecounter sales.
The quantity of coal delivered by the hawker would be made known to the buyer at the time of the sale, and if it was delivered in sacks it had tO be in specified quantities which had to be marked on the sacks. If loose coal was being hawked around, it had to be weighed at the time of sale. A delivery note was not necessary, and he could not see how :a written note 'gave any additional protection to a person who thought he had been given short weight.
To require delivery notes for small quantities of liquid fuel—the Opposition suggested quantities over one gallon— would impose an unreasonable requirement which would discriminate against the door-to-door seller of paraffin and liquid fuel, went on Mr. Price. For the sale of liquid fuels. there must be accredited measuring' equipment, he pointed out.