local The denominations of weights and measures used for Special the special purposes of trade are shown in Appendix 1. verificaThe number of weights and measures stamped in the tions. United Kingdom is very large (3,500,000 weights, and 4,750,000 measures, annually), and the amount of verification and inspection work done in our manufacturing centres and populous counties is probably larger than that done in other similar districts abroad. For instance, in Birmingham alone, 19,390 weighing instruments were verified and stamped during 1895-6, (Annual Report, Chief Inspector, 1896, p. 4), and similar returns of weights, &c., stamped, were made in other districts Another instance of one of our large inspectoral districts is that of the London County Council, whose staff of 75 inspectors and assistants made, during the past year, 43,530 inspections of premises where weights and measures were used for trade, and examined also 4,640 costermongers stalls, barrows, &c. (Annual Report, Chief Officer, Public Control Department, Mr. A. Spencer, 1895-6, p. 9). For the accommodation of their inspectors, local authorities provide offices and instrumental equipments, and some of the principal offices are those in cities, like Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, &c. In Fig. 34 there is shown an exterior view of the South Central Weights and Measures Office, provided by the London County Council; other stations being also provided by them at Marylebone, Clerkenwell, Bethnal Green, Battersea, Blackheath, and Paddington. At the South Central Station (Union Road, Newington) separate offices, with standards and testing and stamping appliances, are set apart for the verification of the varicus forms of weights, measures, and weighing-instruments. The entrance into the offices is shown on the right of Fig. 34; outer lobbies and a receiving room are provided for the convenience of the public who bring their weights, &c., to be verified; and on the left of the entrance gates, one side of the stabling is shown, in which are kept the horses and vehicles used in the outdoor inspection. In Fig. 35 an interior view is shown of the separate cffice used for testing publican's glass measures (now so largely used in place of pewter measures), the verifying officers being seated at the testing benches, at which they are comparing the glasses with standard measures verified by the Board of Trade; the stamp or mark of verification being placed on each verified glass by means of a "sand-blast" machine. Of course such extensive offices as those above referred to are not generally required in counties and boroughs, and in many instances the inspector's accommodation is limited to one or two rooms, situated at or near the county offices or local municipal buildings. |