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 to 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.”).