HC Deb 15 July 1862 vol 168 c349
MR. LOCKE

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether any Communication has been received from the Astronomer Royal and the Comptroller General of the Exchequer as to the inaccurate state of the standards of Weight and Measure; and whether those now in use at the Exchequer for testing the accuracy of the Standards used by Inspectors of Weights and Measures in all parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland have been so used since the year 1825; and, if so, whether the same have been adjusted and reverified, or whether any other means have been adopted for ascertaining their accuracy; and, if so, what means?

SIR GEORGE GREY

said, from the information which he had received, he understood that no representations on the subject had been made since 1859, when they were laid before Parliament. In regard to the dates upon which the standards of weights and measures were first used, it appeared that the balances and standard of avoirdupois weight had been used since 1825, but that the standard of measures had only been in use since 1834.