TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 15, 19 January 1927, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

As a means of compelling fair trading the new Weights and Measures Act is of the greatest importance to those who sell as well as those who buy. For many years the law has said that the trader must have standard weights and measures, that he shall not use "pound: weights which weigh only fourteen ounces or a quart measure which will not contain two pints. But there has boen no compulsion, except in bread and coal, to sell according to true weight and measure. JSTow tho trader's obligation is extended., Ho must sell in standard weights and moasures. This is important as applied to goods weighed or measured in the presence of the buyer; but it is more important still in its application to packed commodities. A practice has grown up in recent years qf reducing the weight instead of inerdising tho price—selling 15 ounces instead of a pound. Even when it is plainly stated on the package that there is not a full pound tho practice is highly undesirable. It is unfair to the trader who gives full weight' and charges more; because tho buying public pay more attention to price than weight. They will usually take a la-ounce packet at Is' 3d in preference to a pound at Is 4d. If exact multiples of standard weight are insisted upon price differences can be compared. Nowadays so many commodities are packed in the factories that this new provision will bo even more far-reaching in its effects than tße old law respecting weights. It will not immediately come into operation fully, as packers are\allowed time to alter their containers; but as old stocks are disposed of the public will have the assurance of a pound avcrdupois which is sixteen ounces and a

quart which is really a quart.

When the Gorman cruiser Emden commenced her world voyage her main purpose was to show the flag of the Republic in a spirit of friendliness. There was no sabre-rattling in the enterprise. The name of the cruiser reflects the main purpose. The old Emden did her best as a commerce raider and caused quite a flutter in tho South Seas until she met her doom from the guns of the Sydney. But in her career there was nothing to raise feelings of resentment in the minds of those against whom she fought. The new Emden was to recall a.naval episode of which the Germans had no reason to be ashamed, and at the same time to convey expressions of a new desire for friendship. In these circumstances the Capetown incident must be as regrettable to the promoters of tho expedition as it was disconcerting to those people who were at the wrong end of the hose. The Emden had entered a British port and had been cordially received. Huge crowds of the curious had come to see her. We can imagine that the officers and the ship's company were anxious to improve the shining hour by cultivating a feeling of goodwill. What must have been their feelings when they were obliged to reply to the welcome with cold water and! a hose? The statement of the Mayor of Capetown removes any suspicion of a wanton desire of the Germans to insult the visitors. Plainly the situation was one of great danger to the public, and the Emdon's officers acted courageously in adopting the extreme measure to save the public when they must have known that it would bring upon their heads much abuse and indignation.

We like to see ourselves as others see us; but observers of New Zealand

are usually so complimentary, and even flattering, that we are in danger of,missing our faults. It i s good for our national health, then, occasionally to have a little criticism. In "The Post" yesterday there were two examples—one a lecture by Mrs. Leila M. Elomfield at Chicago and the other a letter to tho "Sheffield Daily Telegraph." Mrs. Blomfield contrasted the American demand for service, speed, and high-powered efficiency with the "New Zealand characteristic of being content to let the engine-driver stop his train whenever, he wants to have his tea." Tho Sheffield correspondent disparaged our roads and our preference for British, goods. Unfor.tuna^ls both critics seem to have.

passed ha3ty judgments. The Sheffield writer examined some lines of American goods and did not refer to the Customs statistics. He saw the Chinese in fruit-shops (and mistook some of them for Japanese) and jumped to the conclusion that New Zealanders did not really favour British labour. Yet this criticism may be of some service to us, as a warning that we should not be guilty of similar hasty judgments of other nations.

"Trust not to outward show," wrote Juvenal. There are possibly many people in Nice who wish they had remembered this precept; or had taken some stops to examine the credentials of the Prince of Kurdistan. He claimed to be a direct descendant of Haroun al Rashid, and he boldly reversed the procedure of the Sultan «f the Arabian Nights. The Sultan masqueraded as a humble citizen and revealed, his identity when he wished to reward virtue or punish vice. The Turk who dazzled Nice went about disguised as a Prince. It- was left to the p lice to reveal his identity, and to attend to the .punishment end of the business. The escapade is but one more in the list of deceptions worked upon a gullible public. .The Prince of Kurdistan will hereafter be numbered with that great company, headed by the cobbler of Kopenick, who have set the world laughing at its own weakness for effrontery an.d display.