84 



NATURE 



[November 28, 1895 



THE METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS 

 AND MEASURES. 



A DEPUTATION representing forty-six Chambers of 

 Commerce, announced in these columns a fortnight 

 ago, waited upon Mr. Balfour, First Lord of the Treasury, 

 on November 20, to urge upon the Government the de- 

 sirability of adopting the metric system of weights and 

 measures, as recommended by the late Select Committee 

 on the subject. It will be gratifying to men of science to 

 know that the commercial world has been brought to 

 support a reform advocated by them for many years. 

 When the question was merely one of simplicity, little 

 importance was attached to it, but now that commercial 

 men have learned that our chaotic system of weights and 

 measures is a serious obstacle to international trade, the 

 matter is taken into the region of practical politics. On 

 the whole, Mr. Balfour's reply to the deputation is satis- 

 factory. The best way to the adoption of the metric 

 system in this country is by educating the mass of the 

 people in its use ; in other words, the transition will have 

 to be gradual rather than an abrupt change brought about 

 by legal process. By all means let the metric system be 

 legalised, but it cannot be seriously believed that in two 

 years people would submit to having the system thrust 

 upon them by Act of Parliament. The Select Committee 

 of the House of Commons recommended " That the 

 metrical system of weights and measures be taught in all 

 public elementary schools as a necessary and integral 

 part of arithmetic, and that decimals be introduced at an 

 earlier period of the school curriculum than it is at 

 present." This recommendation ought certainly to be 

 carried out, for when the use of decimals has become 

 common, and the convenience of the metric units has 

 become widely known, there will be little need for legis- 

 lation to make the use of the system compulsory. But 

 the question is not only one of ways and means ; for if 

 England adopts the metric system, then France will, in 

 all probability, adopt Greenwich time, and there will then 

 be one time system throughout the world. 



The deputation to Mr. Balfour was introduced by Sir 

 A. K. Rollit, M.P., who was supported in his remarks by 

 Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir Samuel Montague, M.P., Mr. 

 Arnold-Forster, M.P., and several other members. 



Sir Henry Rosc(5e said : As Chairman of the Select Com- 

 mittee, the report of which has been referred to in the memorial, 

 I desire, Mr. Balfour, to be allowed to say a few words on the 

 ■question at issue, of which, I may add, it is difficult to over- 

 estimate the importance ; and, in the first place, I wish to remark 

 that the Committee consisted of seventeen Members of Parlia- 

 ment, chosen from both sides of the House, and that of these 

 seventeen only one was opposed to the recommendations made 

 by the majority and embodied in the report — i.e. that the 

 metrical system of weights and measures should be at once 

 ■rendered legal for all purposes of trade as well as for manufac- 

 ture ; and that, further, within a space of two years, the metrical 

 lie adopted as the only legalised system. These recommenda- 

 tions were founded on the evidence given by thirty-two witnesses, 

 representing very many different interests, and selected from 

 persons of every class of the community. Of these only one — 

 i.e. Sir Frederick Bramwell — was in favour of retaining the 

 present system, although he had no objection to the legalisation 

 of the metrical weights and measures. With this single excep- 

 tion all the witnesses expressed a very strong opinion as to the 

 evil efiects arising from the compHcated and unsatisfactory con- 

 dition of our present system of weights and measures. They 

 • called attention to the distinct and serious degree to which, in 

 their opinion, our commerce — especially our foreign commerce — 

 is handicapped in consequence of the use of the present system, 

 ■ differing, as it does, from that now adopted by every European 

 nation except ourselves and Russia, as well as by far the greater 

 majority of the non-European countries with which this kingdom 

 trades. Not only, however, was it proved to the satisfaction of 

 the Committee that our foreign trade suffers greatly, but also 

 that our home trade would be benefited by the adoption of a 

 simpler and uniform system of weights and measures. 



From the educational side, also, evidence showed the urgent 



;>io. 1 36 1, VOL. 53] 



need of an adoption of a simpler system, and it appears from the 

 statements of experts that the school time now devoted to arith- 

 metic would be lessened by one year if a simpler system were 

 substituted for the cumbrous one now in vogue, and thus our 

 children placed on a par with those taught in foreign schools. 

 This led to the second recommendation — viz. " That the metrical 

 system be taught in all public elementary schools as a necessary 

 and integral part of arithmetic, and that decimals be introduced 

 at an earlier period of the school curriculum than is the case at 

 present, and before vulgar fractions." 



On inquiry, the Committee learnt that the compulsory changes 

 from old and complicated to a new and simple system had 

 been accomplished in Germany, in Norway and Sweden, in 

 Switzerland, in Italy, in Bulgaria, in Japan, in Turkey, and 

 even amongst the black population of French dependencies in 

 Africa, without any difficulty in a comparatively short period of 

 time, and without any opposition ; that in every case the people 

 in these countries are satisfied that the change has been for the 

 better, and that in no single instance has an attempt been made 

 to recur to the old system. 



It has often been stated that this agitation for the adoption of 

 the metrical system is got up by scientific men or faddists, who 

 have no knowledge of the practical difficulties which will arise 

 in the application of a new system to ordinary life. That this is 

 not so is shown not only by the composition of the present 

 deputation representing, as it does, so powerfully the com- 

 mercial interests of the Empire, but also by the statement 

 emphasised in the evidence given before the Committee, 

 that the working classes, at any rate the more intelligent of 

 them, are interesting themselves in the matter and have passed 

 very strong resolutions in favour of the change. Thus the 

 Trade Union Congress held in Glasgow in September 1892, 

 at \yhich 495 delegates were present, representing nearly a 

 million and a quarter of members, passed the following resolu- 

 tion : " That in the opinion of this congress it is highly desirable 

 in the interests of the working classes and of the general trade of 

 the country that the decimal system (meaning the metrical 

 system) of weights and measures shall be adopted in Great 

 Britain and Ireland as a national system, and that a Parliamentary 

 Committee be instructed to promote legislation on the question " ; 

 whilst a similar resolution was passed at the Belfast Congress in 

 the following year, at which 380 delegates were present repre- 

 senting 900,000 members. A large number of other trade 

 societies have sent in memorials in favour of the adoption of the 

 metrical system ; amongst many others, the United Bargemen 

 and Watermen's Protection Society, the Working Men's Club 

 and Institute Union, the Trades Councils of Sheffield, Glasgow 

 and Bolton, the National Union of Gas-workers, the Boot and 

 Shoe Union of Leicester, the Manchester and Salford Trades 

 Council, the Dockers Union, the Amalgamated Society of 

 Railway Servants in Scotland, and the (General Railway 

 Workers Union. 



Important evidence was obtained from manufacturers who 

 have adopted the metrical system in their works ; the most 

 interesting of these is perhaps that of Captain Sankey, a director 

 of the well-known firm of Willans and Robinson, engineers. 

 This firm has adopted the metrical measurements, not only to 

 their own advantage, but to the satisfaction and with the cordial 

 co-operation of their workmen, some of whom are merely 

 ordinary English labourers. A series of questions was drawn 

 up by the firm, for the purpose of ascertaining how far the men 

 were satisfied or otherwise with the change, and the answers to 

 a number of searching questions showed that the men were not 

 only satisfied but pleased, and had no wish to recur to the old 

 measurements. An honourable member of the Committee asked 

 this witness whether he had found that his men had any diffi- 

 culty in adapting themselves almost immediately to the new 

 system, and the answer was. "Not after the first few days." 

 The witness added : " I asked that very question to the head of 

 our tool-room, and he said it was a little awkward for a time. 

 I said, ' About how long ? ' and he said ' Two days.' " And in 

 further examination this witness stated that the workmen knew 

 nothing of the metrical system beforehand. 



Another interesting witness was the Chairman of the 

 Incorporated Society of Inspectors of Weights and Mea- 

 sures. He came forward as an expert in these matters, 

 and he agreed that the metrical system ought to be made 

 compulsory, and in expressing this opinion he spoke 

 for his Society. He gave a long list of anomalous 

 customary measures, which are now, although illegal, still in use 



