THE METRICAL SYSTEM.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9162, 20 July 1895, Page 6

THE METRICAL SYSTEM.

A select Committee of the House of Con* * mons has juat recommended.the compulsory adoption of the metrical syatem d weight*

A measures. Our multifarious weights ?nJ measures, dry and liquid, are undoubtedly tho c * use oi tt 5 ,6 *. 6 amount of , unnecessary labour «vnd confusion, aud the cental (lOOib) instead of the cwt. is known • Ataerica and in Australia. In America they h avo ttl *°P le( l tno "short ton" of 20001b in preference to the old-fashioned «MOlb. Tho metrical system of Franco has now been adopted in Belgium, Holland, the Germ&n Empire, Austria, Hungary, Spa : ,n, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Rontri<inia, Vor»'»y, Sweden, :m<l this uniformity aiioosl throughout the continent of Europe j» of great assistance to trade aud intercourse. Why (asks a contemporary; should ivo re forever troubled with 5230 ft in a mile, 610 acres in a square mile, 22401b in a ton, or 12 or 16 ounces, or 5760 ciuin3, or 256 lirachms, jj,» pound, or even 64 pints or 631b in a bushel, when they could all be simplified into tens, hundreds, thousands, and 'ens of thousands? Custom is the great difficulty, and there is ateo the trouble of selecting the best unite. But for Great Britain, America, Australia, and other British people, the pound, the yard, and the gallon J, r e certainly the best known units, and it would be far preferable 'that any *tcp of this nature, if it were taken, sLonld bo arranged iv conjunction with the United States. Even the United Slates gallon, however, now differs from the English standard. Altogether a Select Committee may recommend a compulsory change, but it will take a lot of consideration and discussion before anything is accomplished to rid us of the present confusion in our weights and measures. We ihould need, too, a metrical currency to give us the iull&euefit of the change. For liutance, if in France a kilogramme costs 5 ceutimes, a centner would cost 5 francs, and a tonneau 50 francs. Price 3 work themselves out. But the Select Committee do not propose to establish a metrical coinage.