THE METRIC SYSTEM

Waipa Post, Volume 37, Issue 2191, 2 August 1928, Page 2

THE METRIC SYSTEM

ADOPTED IN PALESTINE. A system, of metric weights and measures will bs inaugurated in Palestine as soon as the Bill published in the Official Gazette becomes law. The Turkish measures and weights will be officially scrapped when the new system becomes operative. The local weights and measures vary greatly throughout the country. These fluctuations decided the British to issue an ordinance a. few years ago establishing the metric system. Colliding with old traditions and experience, the new system was practically ignored by the population as a whole, which, continued to express lengths and areas, weights and capacities, in the old Turkish terms. The disadvantages of the old system, were numerous. While a " dunam " of land is officially 919 square meters, in actual practice the dunam ranges between 900 and 1000 square meters. Similarly, a kantar in the south of Palestine is equivalent to 634 lbs; in the north it is 564 lbs. Even greater confusion results from the fluctuating weights and measures used in tithes estimation. A tabbah of wheat is in Jerusalem 23 kilos, in Hebron 28, and in Nablus 40.

The new ordinance establishes the meter as. a measure of length, the kilogram as a standard of weight, and the litre as a standaxd of capacity. Of the old measures only the dunalm is retained, consisting of 1000 square metres. A standard of metric weights and measures will be. procured and verified by the Standard Department of the Board of Trade in England before being brought into use in Palestine. These standards are to be shown to any person who makes written application for ther production on the payment of a fee. Police officers will have the rank of inspector of weights and measures, and new officers may be appointed to act as inspectors. For some time at least official cognisance will be taken of areas and weights expressed in the terms now used, the High Commissioner being allowed Within five years to prohibit the use of any other than the metric weights and measures.