Your request for an opinion of this department as to whether the welcher of the Cooho Concentration and Comprase Company, Galveston, Texas, must comply with the provisions of Article 5650, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, has been received by this department.**

Article 5650, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, reads as follows:

Any person engaged in the business of public weighing for hire, or any person, who shall weigh or measure any commodity, produce or article, and cannot therefore a weight certificate or weight sheet, which shall be accepted as the accurate weight upon which the Purchase or sale of such commodity, produces or article is based, shall be known as a Public Weighers, and shall comply with the provisions of this chapter. The provisions of this article shall not apply to the owner, manager, agent or employees of any compress or any public warehouse in their operation as a warehouseman. This

*2 Hon. W.S. Bussey, Page 2

exemption shall not apply in any manner to any Texas port."

He call your attention to the first sentence of the above statute, the latter portion of which, says "which shall be accepted as the accurate weight upon which the purchase or sale of such commodity, produce or article is based." That language indicates to us that the Legislature was trying to protect the buying public from inaccurate and false weights which were the basis of sale of commodities, produce or other articles.

The correspondence enclosed with your letter reveals that the Geshe Concentration and Compress Company is a company's company designed for the purpose of stering and handling the cotton products of the Geshe Cotton Company in Calveston, Texas.

While the cotton may be weighed before entering the warehouse there, it is not necessarily so and no particular price is had for the weighing of the cotton when received at the warehouse. Your letter further states that the weight sheet, if any, made by the person weighing the cotton there is the warehouse is not at any time used as the weight basis for the sale of this cotton. The correspondence enclosed informs us that a sale of this cotton is made on the basis of mutual weight ascertained at destination. Under the facts that we have the weight sheet, if any, made at the Geshe Concentration and Compress Company does not serve as an accurate weight upon which the purchase or sale of such commodity is made. In our opinion the weigher in question is not a public weigher within the meaning of the statute or the intention of the Legislature.

In this instance we believe there is

*3 Ron. W.S. Bussey, Page 8 no evasion of Arliele 5680, Revised Civil Statutes, and that article does not require that the person employed on a salary basis to weigh the getten at the Geshe' Consentration and Compress Compary is aush a person as is insluded under the term of the above statute, and is therefore not required to post a bond or most with the other requirements of that article.

We trest that this answers your inquiry in this particular instance.

Yours very truly ATTCENEY GENBRAL OF TEXAS by Merris Hodyes. Morris Hodyes Agrleport APPROVEI COMBITTEE COMBITTEE By