Councils, the Manclies'ter and Liverpool 

 Chambers of Commerce, and even from 

 one so official and correct as the Incor- 

 porated Society of Inspectors of Weights 

 and Measures, Last, but not least, we 

 record the fact that the Colonial Premiers 

 at the late Coronation Conference passed 

 a resolution that the metric system 

 should be adopted throughout the Empire. 

 And yet, with all this consensus of con- 

 viction and force of public opinion, noth- 

 ing is done ! 



Objection to Change. 



Granted that there will, of course, be 

 temporary difficulty and friction, why 

 should we dread it? Others have faced it 

 — among the rest no less a nation than 

 Germany, and that, too, in recent years. 

 It IS easy to exaggerate this difficulty. Ail 

 the European countries, save Russia, have 

 effected the change without any serious 

 opposition or inconvenience. Are we less 

 intellectually alert and capable than 

 they? The permissive period (fixed by the 

 committee, as we saw, at two years) would 

 be spent by all alike, teachers, parents, 

 children, shop-keepens, in learning and 

 tea^ching. They would all have the com- 

 pulsory enactment in view. And when it 

 came, they would be ready. 



Small Decimal Coins. 



The only other objection of any force 

 with which I have met, is the difficulty of 

 adapting the smaller decimal coins to 

 "retail trade.'" Some contend, and with 

 a certain amount o^ force, that the poor 

 lose by resaon of the lack of binary divi- 

 sions of certain decimal quantities. An 

 example will show what is meant. Sup- 

 pose that sugar is 25 centimes a pound, 

 and that a small purchaser wants half a 

 pound. Then either the shopkeeper must 

 give way and accept 12 centimes, or the 

 purchaser must pay 13 centimes. We 

 know, from experiences of the fractional 

 rise in prices which follows on a new tax, 

 who w^ill ultimately conquer. And it is 

 asserted that the poor in some countries 

 lose in this way 4 p.c. on their small pur- 

 chases. This objection, however, is one of 

 derail, and miglit easily be met. More- 

 over, it applies to coins only. And what is 

 it, even at its worst, in view of the enor- 

 mous mass of advantages that would be 

 reaped by every section of the commu- 

 nity? 



Conclusion. 



Into such details as this last I have not 

 entered. I have limited myself to general 

 considerations. My present object w-ill 

 have been attained if I have succeeded in 

 reviving and extending your interest in a 

 subject which must already have engaged 



the attention of most thinking people. I 

 trust that the new century will not have 

 advanced far on its adventurous career 

 before the British Empire has proved that 

 in this matter of a rational system of 

 weights, measures, and money, her 

 claims to sound sense and to com- 

 mercial adaptability will have been 

 justified by fearless and beneficent reform. 

 A system admirable for its simplicity, its 

 completeness, its scientific and logical ho- 

 mogeneity, and its practical utility, lies 

 close to our hand. Let no national preju- 

 dice, no fear of change, deter us from 

 making it our own. 



At the conclusion of his address the 

 Bisliop was warmly applauded. 



His Exoellency said the adoption of 

 the decimal system was one that should 

 be t^ken up. The only oppotsitioa tie 

 had ever heard raised to the system was 

 one emanating from bankeria^. Still 

 he had never been able to discover wkat 

 that objection was. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston, in response to a 

 request by His Excellency, offered a few- 

 remarks on the subject. He said if it 

 were not for the decimal system he would 

 not undertake to do the work with one 

 hundred men as "he now did with, two or 

 three. Success cooild as easily be 

 achieved in battle by bows and arrows 

 as in the world's computation by ad- 

 hering to the English system. It was 

 not the schoolm,asters who were to blame, 

 but the standards of the English Univer- 

 sities. He blamed the universities of 

 England, who set up sucti standards. Mr. 

 Johnston then gave an illustration of 

 his own methods of calculation. Chil- 

 dren were too often taught figures parrot 

 fashion, instead of by reason. Too 

 much time was wasted in the present 

 methods employed, and deprived chil- 

 dren of an opportunity of learning other 

 subjects. A bill had been placed be- 

 fore the Federal Parliam.ent for t<he 

 adoption of the decimal system. In the 

 interests of the children the change sug- 

 gested by t?ie BisOiop should be brought 

 about. 



Mr. A. Thorpe said that children could 

 not be equipped with the marveillous in- 

 struments Mr. Johnston possessed, and 

 he had hoped that the more simple me- 

 thods would have been explained. Chil- 

 dren should be taught to reduce shillings 

 and pence to the decimal equivalent of 

 a pound. Tasmania might be able to 

 start a movement to induce the autho- 

 rities to adopt fhe system. 



