The Metric System of Weights and Measures in the Colonies 1

Abstract

THE question of the introduction of the metric system of weights and measures into the United Kingdom has been before the public for more than forty years. An important step in this direction was taken in 1897, when the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Act was passed which rendered it lawful to use metric weights and measures in this country for the general purposes of trade. The trading community as a whole has not, however, manifested any eagerness to take advantage of this permissive legislation, and, so far as retail trade is concerned, the use of Ihe metric system appears to be restricted to dispensing chemists and a few vendors of lager beer. It is true that for some years past the system has been allowed to appear in the official syllabus of our public elementary schools, but no stress is laid upon it there, and its chief recommendation is represented as being “the advantage to be gained from uniformity in the method of forming multiples and sub-multiples of the unit.”