The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-04 00:00:00

But further, the inspector sa

mongers, &c.) " are char
usual charges for adjustin

This is wrong, in the f

not contemplate, and

alike. Again, the act clearly contemplated that there
should be " makers" of weights and measures, indepen-
dently of the inspectors themselves. " The trade" could
surely adjust here, as they do in all other towns, Man-
chester, we are informed, being the only exception. It
may be urged, however, that they are not prevented from
so adjusting weights, and forwarding them to the office
to be duly stamped. Practically, however, they are pre-
vented, and, it is suggested, by frivolous objections being
made against their accuracy ; for we find it stated, in table
14, page 28, of the Report as follows :
number of weights which have required
96 per cent. of the

Averag
adjusting
number stamped
Ditto of measures
number stamped."

66 per cent. of the

With respect to balances, the report informs us of the
astounding fact that, of 215, where the selling scale was
too heavy, " the average excess was four ounces !" This
is wholly unaccountable if the ordinary mode of testing is
adopted by the inspectors. We have heard, however,
that a very extraordinary mode is adopted, by which any
scale, however perfect, may be thrown off its balance. Of
one description of beams—that made on the "accelerating"
principle, by which is meant that the centre is placed a
little below the points of suspension—the report speaks as
being " fraudulent beams." It is universally allowed,
however, that such beams are the most accurate when
properly used. They are very inaccurate, of course, when
tested by one scale being placed on the counter and the
other a foot below it.
The tradesmen complain of many other features of the
system—its costliness, the constant irritation which it
produces, the extreme nicety of adjustment insisted upon
with respect to weights and balances, used for rough pur-
poses, and weighing heavy articles, where from absorp-
tion, and even from ordinary atmospheric effects, to pre-
serve perfect accuracy, for even a few hours together, is
quite impracticable. Their main grievance, however,
they conceive to arise from the corporate authorities
attempting to derive a revenue from the office of inspec-
tor. The tenor of the whole report bears upon the ques-
tion of money-profit from the office. The receipts of the
past year, it appears, have decreased as compared with the
previous years ; and such receipts are treated of in the
following apologetic strain :
" I have reason to believe that the diminished receipts
are partly occasioned by the general good order of the
weights and measures in use."

If this happy state of things has been accomplished,
however, it is rather singular to find from table No. 2
that of 29,339 measures examined last year 8,559 were
found to require adjustment; and that, out of 106,645
weights examined, 33,915 required adjustment. We
observe too from the same table that there has been a
little flogging up of the business during the last three
months of the year, 5,462 weights having in one month—
March—been found to require adjustment out of 11,683
examined. Whether this has anything to do with the
pleading tone of the report, es to keeping up the adjusting
department of the office, it is not for us to say.

With these remarks, we might leave the question in the
hands of the proper local authorities. Most of them are
men who are, or have been, practical men of business ;
and such men must see that the absurd nicety of adjust-
ment of weights and balances, which is enforced upon
tradesmen, is calculated to add only to annoyance, if not
even, occasionally, to persecution. There has been no
such thing ever achieved yet as a perfect balance. It is es
impossible as to arrive at a mathematical point, or to lay
down a mathematical line, which is defined to have length
but not breadth. The act of parliament contemplates the
insuring of practical correctness in the dealing between
man and man, in their business transactions—not splitting
The nteely-anjustea scales and weights, pre-
served in flannel, or kept under glass-cases in the Inspec-
tor's-office, would only prove expensive toys if subjected
to the wear and tear of actual every-day use. What we
should recommend is, to get rid of the adjusting depart-
ment of the inspector's business. Let that gentleman
devote himself to the duties of his office, as prescribed by
the act of Parliament, instead of writing essays upon
"binary or decimal systems" of " weights, measures, and
currency." We have scale and beam manufacturers, and
weight and measure adjusters, who are quite capable of
performing such business. Two or three years ago, if we
remember rightly, a memorial was presented by highly
respectable firms in these trades, praying to he allowed to
perform the required work. One or two inspectors would
be quite sufficient to ensure that this were done correctly ;
and there would then be an end of the present fertile
source of irritation and annoyance.

FOREIGN NEWS.

FRANCE.

An article in the Public holds out the probability of the
definite establishment of the Empire on the 10th instant,
by the shouting of the soldiery in the Champ de Mars.
Accounts from Vienna state that the Count de Cham-
bord has requested his partisans to abstain from opposi-
tion to the present Government of France. The number
of Legitimists who have this year visited the Prince at
Venice has been very limited.

Several printed papers have been posted up in the Fau-
bourgs St. Martin and St. Denis, bearing the title of
" Appel au Peuple," signed " Les Arnie de la Revolu-
tion," and calling on the people to rise. Several arrests
are said to have taken place.
The Ministries of the Interior and Police are at present
occupied with a matter which stirs great scandal, and will
be shortly submitted to the Council of State. The cen-
tral commissioner of police of one of the chief cities of the
south is on the point of being arrested, on the charge of
having trafficked in pardons, and sold for hard cash com-
mutations of punishments, or releases from prisons. The
fact was denounced to the authorities by a prisoner, who
had procured his liberty by this corrupt channel, and has
since been confirmed by others.
A military funeral service, in honour of Marshal Ge-
rard, was performed at th Invalides'on Monday.
On Monday morning, at 10 o'clock, the wooden barrack
of the pyrotechnic establishment in the Bois de Vincennes
was blown up. It contained all the rockets and stars in-
tended for the fireworks of the 10th of May. All the
workmen were absent at breakfast when the explosion
took place. It is said to have been caused by the heating
of the salts in the composition of the rockets, as they were
not sufficiently neutralised. The loss is estimated at
60,000 francs.

A decree authorises the minister of finance to inscribe
on the great book of the public debt a sum of 4,403,436 f.
three per cents rentes in exchange for 4,475,655 f. 00c.
four-and-a-half per cents, which are to be annulled.
Two individuals named Prach, husband and wife, were
tried in Paris on Saturday, par contumace, having fled
from justice, for having seduced a young Englishwoman
to deliver her up to prostitution. They were found guilty,
and sentenced to imprisonment for two years. and a fine
of 500 f. An Italian named Zucatte, who is in custody,
and who practised at a dentist in the Rue St. Honore, was
convicted as an accessory, and sentenced to imprisonment
for 12 months and a fine of 500 f.