In the first place this long-drawn out, see-saw kind of 

 bargaining is, generally speaking, a terrible waste of time. 

 Britons, however, love to barter, consequently I will say no 

 more about this point ; but surely no one will gainsay that 

 our system of weights and measures is unnecessarily cumber- 

 some and unnecessarily difficult. It harasses us at school, 

 and occupies much valuable time which ought to be more 

 profitably spent in studying more useful subjects. Even 

 after our School days are over, it continues to harass and 

 confuse us for the rest of our lives. We ought not to require 

 a pen and paper to tell how many stones there are in , say, 

 1,657 Ibs., nor should this process be necessary to tell how 

 much the same quantity of produce would come to at a 

 penny per K>. This could be ascertained quite easily and 

 accurately with a decimal system. 



Further the Government has now become a gigantic 

 purchasing body, and for this reason among others, has to 

 fix prices for commodities it wishes to purchase. They had 

 therefore a unique opportunity of paving the way to a 

 reformed system, but so far they have not done so, because 

 Farmers are still required to sell wheat on the 63ffi>. bushel, 

 while the Government offer them seed wheat on the basis of 

 a 60ft>. bushel. 



This elusive term called bushel ! It is no longer a measure 

 it is a weight, and yet after all it is not a weight, but a variety 

 of weights, which can be varied at will, within certain limits, 

 by so-called members of " The Trade," according as they are 

 buyers or sellers. 



In very truth these men are most privileged mem- 

 bers of the State ! There must be some reason for this 

 variety of Bushel weights. Does it really pay " The Trade " 

 to have a difficult system of weights and measures, or is there 

 some other reason for so doing ? 



Be this as it may, it will not be surprising if reform in 

 our system of weights and measures emanates from the 

 initiative of " The Trade/' This would only be History 

 repeating itself, seeing that the establishment of the new 

 Government seed testing Station, has followed the bold step 

 of a well-known seed firm, who 35 years ago guaranteed the 

 purity and germination of their seeds. An almost analo- 

 gous case is the present simplified system of purchasing Basic 



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