The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED the evening news, Morning news and Echo. MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1902. THE REFORM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 81, 7 April 1902, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED the evening news, Morning news and Echo.

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1902. THE REFORM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

For the cause that lacks assistance For the wrong that needs resistance For the future in the distance And.the good that we can do.

The recent action of-several of the

Chambers of Commerce in our provincial centres in- recommending the -adoption of the decimal system shows that the wide-spread' movement 'ag*ainst our present illogical and cumbersome scale of coins, weights and measures" has at last extended to New Zealand. So long ago as 1896 every Chamber of Commerce in England had protested to the Imperial authorities against the existing system. Three successive Decimal Associations have expended a large amount of energy and eloquence upon .the absurdity of bur present scale and the advantages of the rival system which has now been adopted by practically every country in the world except England and the United States. The Weights and Measures Act of 1897 legalised the use of the metric system in the United Kingdom, but provided no means for replacing Hie old system by the new, and matters in this respect stand now much where, they did fifty years ago.. It is possible that the steps now being taken by various representative bodies here and in Australia may produce some distinct impression on the rather stolid imagination of British officialdom. The defects of the present system and the advantages of the decimal scale must be acknowledged by all who have ever paid the slightest attention to the subject. In the matter of coinage alone our arrangement of pounds, shillings and pence will not for convenience and facility bear comparison for a moment with the decimal system, in which all the operations of. addition, substruction and division can be performed by merely moving the . decimal" point. When we come to weights aud measures the case for the English scale is far worse. We enjoy the use of three different measures of length, two superficial i measures, three cubic measures, three liquid measures, and six measures of weight—all inconsistent with one another and involving the use of awkward factors aud multiples. The amount of time and trouble wasted for. commercial purposes alone over these absurdities is difficult to over-estimate. Perhaps the most astonishing fact is that as soon as mathematical calculations of a higher order are required the decimal ' system becomes an absolute necessity. No chemist or phytsieist is ever content with the cumbrous English rotation, but flies almost instinctively to metres and litres and grammes. Yet the Scales and methods that are found too awkward and intricate for skilled mathematicians are supposed to be well adapted for the use of artisan- and shbpkeeixrs and for the training of children in schools. j,. The disadvantage of the scale still employed in England and her dependencies becomes still more painfully obvious as soon as we enter the region of international commerce. The present British system of weights and measures is absolutely unintelligible to foreigners, and tends always and everywhere to dwarf and - stunt the growth of British tradeAt a time when the competition of -foreign rivals is pre.s-?ing so heavily upon us. it is surely irorwise to maintain a system that acts as a positive "bar to the extension of our commercial relations. The value of the principle involved is sufficiently illustrated by the adoption of decimal coinage. Every civilised country in the world' except Great Britain and some of her dependencies has ' a decimal coinage; .'."-. and the 'advantages- derived from the Use of this ? standard would be -vastly -incresised by the adoption: of the metric system of Weight's and measures. It is a matter of no prac- : tical importance that the length of" the French metre, on which the system is based, has Mot yet been fixed with scientific certainty. Any arbitrary standard would suit, so long as it admitted the use of decimal multiples and factors-

All this is well known to the Imperial authorities; at least the facts have been frequently urged upon their notice, and it is impossible, to. deny them. Yet such is the, force of tradition, and so strong the conservatism of our nation, that, in spite of the recommendations of Royal Commissions, and the weig-ht of unimpeachable evidence, jothrag has been done in this way to, keep England abreast with the onward march of miodern conimeTce and - inc-iistralism. The chief reason that the Royal Commission's suggestions in favour of the decimal system were rejected in 1553 s-ems to have been Lord Overstone's > remark that the system nnder which

good enough for anyone else. But so childish an argument is not likely to satisfy men nowadays. "Viewed from an economical standpoint, the non-adoption of any metrical or decimal system throughout the British Empire: is one of the most glaring examples of national waste, financially • and educationally, that the spirit of. unwillingness to face the trouble of a change, from old ways has ever inflicted. Not only scientific men and professors, but commercial men and Chambers of Commerce, educational experts at home, and British Consuls abroad, have urged in the most convincing manner that our weights and measures and money are, as a whole, utterly unintelligible to the large majority of foreigners with whom it is our desire and interest to extend our trade; and that this renders English price-lists and circulars a mere dead letter to many who might otherwise become customers. It has also been fully demonstrated that the loss of valuable time and the imperfect intelligence developed by teaching the young an antiquated non-decimal system is a fearful extravagance." it is one of the most curious features- of modern civilisation that, i/n the face of such demonstrated truths, the power of cusuom alone can maintain the obsolete and unscientific system of weights and measures and coinage to which we are still held in bondage. The sooner the champions of the decimal triumph the. better for the education,* the'intelligence, and the commerce of the British race.