By Dennie Quill, ContributorIN THE scheme of national priorities the matter of metrication seems quite insignificant. But last week it occurred to me that the metrication experiment had passed many of our small traders and business operators by and I wondered if ever they would be brought into the fold.
This is because I visited one of Kingston's popular markets and all around me people were happily conducting their business in the traditional way using the imperial weights. I asked one higgler, "what happen to you metric scale"? She replied with a raised eyebrow, "ah what dat.?" I seem to recall that metric scales were given to some higglers during the national campaign to go metric.
For fuddy duddies like me who don't feel comfortable with the metric system it is ok to buy two pounds of carrot or a quart of peas. The customer is happy and the trader has made a sale.
Looking at the experience of other countries it is obvious that metrication has to happen over time. Steps to replace the traditional measurements with metric can be costly and extremely slow. Use of the metric system was legally accepted in the United Kingdom in 1897 and in the US since 1866. Yet the traditional system persists.
IN THE CURRICULUM
Locally, metric units were introduced in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools during the 1970s and children being prepared for CXC and GSAT examinations are taught in metric.
The Weights and Measure 'Conversion of Units of Measure Order', 1998 of the Ministry of Commerce requires all industry, with temporary exemption of trade in the traditional markets to convert to metric units. Added to this the Weights and Measure 'Prohibition of non-metric measurement devices' of Trade Regulations was designed to halt the importation of non-metric devices.
And according to a report from the Jamaica Bureau of Standards steady progress has been made in industries like horse racing, petroleum e.g. gasoline pump sales have been in litres and cooking gas in kilograms since the 1990's. The report pointed to the significant conversion of road signs, the replacement of metric type water heaters and compliance by ports, wharves, police, weather personnel and several public sector entities.
In terms of world compliance, Canada boasts the most advanced metric usage, followed closely by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The United States is way behind and generally applies metric measures to industry while maintaining the older measure for everyday transactions. In fact the US law requires labelling for most packaged goods to be both in traditional and metric systems.
In Britain, metrication has been vastly unpopular. There, the drive for compliance reached a new high when grocer Steve Thoburn charged a customer 34 pence for a pound of banana in 2000 and found himself in court for failing to comply with metrication devices.
SECRETLY TAPED
Apparently the transaction was secretly taped and later that day police and standards officers raided his premises, seized his scales and prosecuted him.
Three other small traders who were prosecuted about the same time became known as the Metric Martyrs and millions rallied around them as anti-metrication sentiments rose in Britain.
Steve, 39 died of a heart attack earlier this year but the case continues in the European Court of Human Rights, completely funded by the public. In 2000, Britain's leading supermarket chain Tesco declared that it was returning to imperial weights and measure. The reaction by the British public was overwhelming in keeping with a survey which found that nine of 10 customers continue to use the old-fashioned measurements to make calculations in their heads.
People in the United Kingdom don't want to forget that the inch was first defined by King David 1 of Scotland in 1150 as the width of a man's thumb at the base of the nail or that this was later redefined by Edward 1 of England in the 13th Century as being equal to three grains of dry and ground barley laid end-to-end. But more than that, metrication has been vastly unwelcome in Britain because it has been viewed as a dictate of the Brussels Bullies, which of course refers to the big guys in the European Union. Another small point is that the metre was invented by the French.
Despite all the opposition, metric is fast becoming the global language of measurement and this is what is forcing the universal use of the metric system.
METRICATION HIGHWAY
Changes in international trade and commerce are dictating that countries who want to be competitive must get on the metrication highway. So what are poor, small countries like Jamaica to do? How has the metric system worked for us? How much have we spent on conversion and who has benefited most?
Although there is growing compliance, truth is many of us continue to talk and think in the traditional way. For example, even though the meteorologist tells us that the temperature is going to be 30 plus Celsius today, don't we continue to say: Man what a heat? Today was in the 90s!
Dennie Quill, a veteran journalist, can be reached at denniequill@hotmail.com
