No. 3/1928:

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ACT, 1928

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Short title, construction and citation.

2 Definitions.

PART I VERIFICATION AND STAMPING OF BOTTLES USED FOR THE SALE OR SUPPLYING OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR

3 Extension of term "trade".

4 Appointment of special inspectors of measures and their assistants.

5 Powers and duties of special inspectors and their assistants.

6 Verification and stamping of bottles.

7 Verification and stamping of bottles during manufacture.

8 Fees for verifying and stamping bottles.

9 Expenses under this Part of this Act.

PART II MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

10 Measuring instruments.

11 Verification and stamping of measuring instruments.

12 Extension of section 25 and 26 of the Principal Act.

PART III GENERAL

13 Stamps of verification.

14 Cancellation of certificates of inspectors.

15 Fees in respect of verification of local standards.

16 Amendment of section 8 of the Act of 1904.

17 Amendment of section 79 of the Principal Act.

18 Amendment of section 5 of the Act of 1904.

19 Amendment of section 81 of the Principal Act.

20 Amendment of Section 83 of the Principal Act.

21 Amendment of the Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act.

22 Local authorities in County Dublin.

SCHEDULE

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ACTS, 1878 to 1904, AND IN PARTICULAR TO AMEND AND EXTEND THOSE ACTS IN RELATION TO BOTTLES USED FOR THE SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR AND IN RELATION TO CERTAIN MEASURING INSTRUMENTS.

[1st June, 1928]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

PRELIMINARY.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Weights and Measures Act, 1928 , and shall be construed as one with the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1928.

2.—In this Act—

the expression "bottle to which this Act applies" means a bottle of a size for the time being prescribed under section 9 of the Intoxicating Liquor (General) Act, 1924 (No. 62 of 1924), for the sale of intoxicating liquor or any particular kind of intoxicating liquor in bottle;

the word "manufactured" when used in relation to a bottle to which this Act applies means manufactured in Saorstát Eireann;

the expression "The Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána; the expression "The Minister" means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression "The Principal Act" means the Weights and Measures Act, 1878;

the expression "The Act of 1889" means the Weights and Measures Act, 1889; and

the expression "The Act of 1904" means the Weights and Measures Act, 1904.

PART I VERIFICATION AND STAMPING OF BOTTLES USED FOR THE SALE OR SUPPLYING OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR

3.—The term "trade" when used in the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, shall, in addition to the meanings assigned to it by section 19 of the Principal Act, include the sale or supplying in bottle of intoxicating liquor which is at the time of such sale or supplying required by virtue of section 9 of the Intoxicating Liquor (General) Act, 1924 (No. 62 of 1924) to be sold or supplied in bottles of a size prescribed under that section.

4.—(1) The Commissioner may from time to time appoint so many special inspectors of measures (in this Act referred to as special inspectors) as he may think necessary and the Minister for Finance shall sanction for the discharge of the duties of special inspectors under this Part of this Act, and so many assistants to special inspectors as he may think necessary and the Minister for Finance shall sanction.

(2) The Commissioner may suspend or dismiss any special inspector from his office as special inspector, and may suspend or dismiss any assistant to a special inspector from his office as assistant.

(3) Every person appointed under this section to be a special inspector shall be a member of the Gárda Síochána and shall possess a certificate under section 8 of the Act of 1904 or a special inspector's certificate granted in accordance with regulations made by the Minister under this section.

(4) Any person appointed under this section to be an assistant to a special inspector may be a member or not a member of the Gárda Síochána as the Commissioner with the approval of the Minister for Finance shall think fit.

(5) An ex-officio inspector of weights and measures may be appointed to be a special inspector and when so appointed may, if the Commissioner so directs, continue to be an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures.

(6) The Commissioner shall provide every special inspector with such standards and equipment as is necessary for the performance by him of his duties as such special inspector.

5.—(1) So far as relates to the verification and stamping of bottles to which this Act applies—

( a ) every special inspector shall have all the powers and perform all the duties conferred or imposed on an inspector of weights and measures by or under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act, but without any restriction as to the area or district in which such powers may be exercised or such duties are to be performed by such special inspector, and

( b ) references in the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act to an inspector of weights and measures shall be construed as including references to a special inspector and the said Acts as so amended shall have effect accordingly.

(2) Every person appointed an assistant to a special inspector shall perform in relation to such special inspector such duties as the Commissioner may from time to time direct.

6.—(1) In addition to the times and places fixed under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, for the verification and stamping of weights and measures, manufactured bottles to which this Act applies may be verified and stamped at such times and in such places in the factory in which such bottles are manufactured or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof as the Commissioner shall with the approval of the Minister appoint.

(2) The Commissioner shall assign a special inspector to every place appointed by him under this section for the verification and stamping of bottles to which this Act applies and it shall be the duty of such special inspector to attend at such place at the times appointed in respect thereof by the Commissioner under this section and there to perform the duties in relation to the verification and stamping of bottles to which this Act applies imposed or him by the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act.

7.—(1) The Minister may, if and whenever he thinks fit, grant in respect of any factory in Saorstát Eireann a licence in the prescribed form authorising all bottles to which this Act applies manufactured in such factory to be stamped in the prescribed manner during the process of manufacture with a stamp of verification under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act or with an impression derived from such stamp, and a factory in respect of which such a licence has been granted and is in force is in this section referred to as a licensed factory.

(2) No licence shall be granted under this section unless or until the Minister has made regulations under this section.

(3) The Minister may at any time revoke any licence granted under this section.

(4) All bottles stamped under this section during manufacture shall immediately after they are manufactured be tested and verified in the prescribed manner by a special inspector and if found by him not to be correct in accordance with the stamp thereon shall forthwith be destroyed in the prescribed manner by or under the supervision of a special inspector.

(5) The methods of verification and stamping of bottles to which this Act applies authorised under this section shall, in respect of such bottles manufactured in a licensed factory, be in substitution for the methods of verification and stamping required or authorised by or under the Principal Act.

(6) The Minister shall make regulations relating to the following matters:—

( a ) any matter or thing referred to in this section as prescribed,

( b ) the securing that bottles to which this Act applies stamped under this section will be so stamped by or under the immediate supervision of a special inspector,

( c ) the securing that such bottles will be and remain in the custody of a special inspector from the time of manufacture until released or destroyed by or under the supervision of a special inspector,

( d ) prescribing the duties of a special inspector under this section,

( e ) imposing such conditions on the proprietor of a licensed factory as the Minister may consider necessary to ensure that all bottles to which this Act applies manufactured in and issued from such factory are duly verified and stamped in accordance with this section and the regulations to be made thereunder,

( f ) prescribing the penalties which may be inflicted on persons (other than special inspectors) found by a court of summary jurisdiction to be guilty of contravening the regulations, but so that no such penalty shall exceed a fine of twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment for any term not exceeding three months.

(7) Any person (other than a special inspector) found guilty by a court of summary jurisdiction of contravening any regulation made under this section way be sentenced by such court to suffer a penalty not exceeding the penalty prescribed by such regulation in respect of such contravention or, where no penalty is so prescribed, not exceeding a fine of twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment for any term not exceeding three months.

(8) If a special inspector is guilty of any breach of duty imposed on him by regulations made under this section he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(9) In this section the word "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this section.

8.—(1) There shall be paid in respect of the verification and stamping of bottles to which this Act applies by the persons requiring the same to be verified such fees as may be prescribed by regulations made under this section by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance and different fees may be so prescribed for different classes of bottles and for different methods of testing.

(2) All fees payable under this section in respect of the verification and stamping of bottles by an inspector of weights and measures or an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures shall be paid to such inspector and applied and accounted for by him in like manner as if the same were fees received by him under the Principal Act.

(3) All fees payable under this section in respect of the verification and stamping of bottles by a special inspector shall be paid into the Gárda Síochána Reward Fund and the Exchequer in such proportions as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

9.—All expenses incurred under this Part of this Act (save those incurred by or in respect of an inspector of weights and measures or an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures) shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance. be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

10.—(1) The definition of "measuring instrument" contained in section 35 of the Act of 1889 shall be extended so as to include any instrument for the measuring of distance or of superficial area or for measurement by counting and that section shall have effect accordingly.

(2) In this Part of this Act, other than this section, the expression "measuring instrument" shall not include any instrument for the measurement and determination of electrical quantities.

11.—(1) Every measuring instrument used for trade shall (unless it is the subject of a licence granted under this section and for the time being in force) be verified and stamped by an inspector of weights and measures with a stamp of verification under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act.

(2) Where a measuring instrument which has been used or trade before the 1st day of January, 1928, is, by reason only of the material or principle of construction thereof, incapable of being stamped as required by this section the Minister may, if he thinks fit and subject to such (if any) alteration being made in the construction of such measuring instrument as he may think proper to require, grant and at any time revoke in respect of such measuring instrument a licence authorising the person named therein to use such measuring instrument for trade during such period (not exceeding such maximum period as the Minister may prescribe either generally or specifically by regulations made by him under this section) and subject to such conditions as the Minister may think proper to specify in such licence.

(3) Every person who after the expiration of six months from the passing of this Act, uses or has in his possession for use for trade any measuring instrument required by this section to be stamped which is not so stamped shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding two pounds and, in the case of a second or any subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(4) Section 32 of the Principal Act shall apply to measuring instruments in like manner as it applies to weights and measures, and section 48 of the Principal Act shall apply to measuring instruments in like manner as it applies to weights, measures, scales, balances, steelyards and weighing machines.

12.—Sections 25 and 26 of the Principal Act as amended by section 3 of the Act of 1889 shall apply to measuring instruments in like manner as they apply to weights, measures, scales, balances, steelyards and weighing machines.

PART III GENERAL

13.—(1) Every stamp of verification under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, shall be of a form, material, and design prescribed by the Minister by regulations made under this section with such variation of numbers or marks thereon as may be directed by the Minister by or under such regulations.

(2) Every reference to a stamp of verification in the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, (including the reference in section 32 of the Principal Act to any stamp used for the stamping under that Act of any weight or measure) shall be construed as a reference to a stamp of verification prescribed under this section and the said Acts shall have effect accordingly.

(3) It shall not be lawful for any person to order, purchase, or cancel any stamp of verification prescribed under this section save with the written authority of the Minister.

(4) If any person orders, purchases, or cancels any stamp of verification in contravention of this section such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

14.—(1) Whenever the holder of a certificate granted under section 11 of the Act of 1889 or section 8 of the Act of 1904 has for a continuous period of not less than seven years commencing at any time after the grant of such certificate ceased to act as an inspector of weights and measures, the Minister may by order cancel such certificate and thereupon such certificate shall cease to be in force.

(2) The holder of any such certificate as aforesaid shall not, so long as he is acting as a special inspector, be deemed to have ceased within the meaning, of this section to act as an inspector of weights and measures.

(3) Section 8 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1904, shall be construed and have effect as if—

( a ) in sub-section (2) of the said section the words "and such certificate is at the date of his appointment in force" were inserted therein after the words "such a certificate as aforesaid," and

( b ) in sub-section (3) of the said section the words "holding a certificate for the time being in force" were inserted therein in lieu of the words "having obtained a certificate" now contained therein.

15.—In addition to the powers conferred by section 8 of the Act of 1889, as extended by section 6 of the Act of 1904, the Minister shall be entitled to charge on the comparison and verification of local standards and other standards for the use of local authorities or their officers or which are provided by the Commissioner such fees as he may, with the approval of the Minister for Finance, appoint.

16.—(1) The purposes for which examinations are to be held under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Act of 1904 shall include the purpose of ascertaining whether persons proposed to be appointed to the post of ex-officio inspectors of weights and measures possess sufficient practical knowledge for the proper performance of their duties as such inspectors.

(2) No person shall after the passing of this Act be appointed be an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures unless he has obtained (whether before or after the passing of this Act) a certificate under the said section 8 of the Act of 1904.

17.—The powers and duties conferred and imposed on a judge of assize and a recorder of a borough or a chairman of quarter sessions of a county respectively by section 79 of the Principal Act shall extend to and be exercisable and performed in respect of equipment and as so extended shall be and are hereby transferred to the Minister and shall henceforth be exercised and performed by the Minister at such times in every year and in such manner as he shall deem best for the due exercise and performance thereof.

18.—The power of making general regulations vested in the Minister by virtue of section 5 of the Act of 1904 shall include the power of making general regulations with respect to the following matters that is to say:—

( a ) the provision and maintenance of local standards and working or sub-standards by the local authority or by the Commissioner and the verification of such standards and working or sub-standards; and

( b ) the guidance of inspectors of weights and measures, ex-officio inspectors of weights and measures, and special inspectors in the execution and performance of their duties under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act;

and the said section 5 shall have effect accordingly.

19.—Section 81 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of the words "under the direction of the justices of petty sessions" and all words from the words "Provided that if" to the words "justices of the district" now contained therein.

20.—The references in section 83 of the Principal Act to the justices in petty sessions of the county and the justices shall be construed as references to the Minister and the said section shall have effect accordingly.

21.—(1) In the definition of the expression "county" contained in the part of the Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act headed "Notes" the word "riding" shall be construed as referring only to a riding which is an administrative county and the said Schedule shall have effect accordingly.

(2) The part of the Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act headed "Notes" is hereby amended by the deletion of the following words "The two constabulary districts of the county of Galway shall respectively be deemed to be counties for the purposes of this Act" now contained therein.

22.—(1) Notwithstanding, anything in the Principal Act, the councils of the urban districts specified in the Schedule to this Act shall in their respective districts be the respective local authorities for the purposes of the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1904, as amended by this Act.

(2) The Principal Act shall be construed and have effect as if the Fourth Schedule thereto were amended as follows, that is to say:—

( a ) by the deletion of the following words now contained in the said Schedule, that is to say, the words "such portion of the police district of Dublin metropolis as is without the municipal boundary of the borough of Dublin," the words "The Commissioners of the Dublin metropolitan police" and the words "The funds applicable to defray the expenses of the Dublin metropolitan police," and

( b ) by the deletion in the part of the said Schedule headed "Notes" of the words "police district of Dublin Metropolis" and the insertion in lieu of the said words so deleted of the words "following urban districts, that is to say, Blackrock, Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire, Pembroke and Rathmines and Rathgar".

(3) Any sub-standards, scales and stamps procured under sub-section (5) of section 78 of the Principal Act and now in the custody of the Commissioner shall be delivered over to the county council of the county of Dublin.

(4) Section 81 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of the fourth paragraph thereof (being the paragraph which commences with the words "In the district" and ends with the words "within the said district.").

SCHEDULE

Blackrock Urban District

Dalkey Urban District

Dun Laoghaire Urban District

Pembroke Urban District

Rathmines and Rathgar Urban District.