THE PRESS MONDAY, MAY 1, 1978 Changing to metrics

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 16

THE PRESS MONDAY, MAY 1, 1978 Changing to metrics

From today, regulations which came into effect on April 1 requiring metric pricing, price ticketing and advertising by retailers are to be “implemented fully.” After faltering by not requiring these changes to be made by last November and in accord with the original timetable, the Government should not hesitate now to enforce the regulations firmly. The imperial system of measurements will doubtless survive in the language and in general conceptions of length, weight, and other measures for many years yet. The old system can be left to wither over a long period without any danger or confusion. But in the market place, confusion and cost will be the results of any leniency in allowing shops to resist the decision to change to the metric system.

Fortunately, New Zealand retailers and consumers appear to appreciate this, and to be willing to allow the Government to force the pace of a change that would otherwise be slow and patchy if shopkeepers and their consumers were left to their own devices.

In Britain, however, the Government’s efforts to force the pace towards abandoning the imperial system is being unwisely resisted. There, the Govern; ment’s efforts to set deadlines for similar changes have been resisted by those who fear confusion among consumers and who fear that unscrupulous traders will try to profit from this confusion.

New 7 Zealand consumers can attest that changing to metrics in the market place is not easy, as difficult calculations sometimes have to be made. They can also attest that the change is certainly not impossible. Wise consumers, here as in Britain, should welcome the Government’s regulations and penalties to nudge them into the metric system. Although some will want to check conversions, the key to the change lies in avoiding day-to-day comparisons, in putting aside the old measures, the old scales, tapes and rules, and in using the new ones. The new system should not be seen as an obstruction: the old measures are now the ones that are getting in the way.