§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEYsaid, he wished to ask the Postmaster General, Whether the difference between the complicated English weights and measures and the simple metric system now being introduced all over Europe has not occasioned, in the French Postal Treaty, our being obliged to carry a third of an ounce weight as an equivalent for a ten gramme weight, which is one-sixth less; and whether he is prepared to remedy this inequality by the use of corresponding weights, by which step he would be also setting an example on the part of the Government of the adoption of the more general system?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, if the metric system were in operation in this country, ten grammes might have been adopted by us instead of one-third of an ounce; but I do not think any particular inconvenience will ensue to the public from the course that has been taken. The difference between one-third of an ounce and ten grammes is not, I believe, one-sixth, but only one-nineteenth; and under existing circumstances I think considerable inconvenience would have resulted if one- 879 third of an ounce and ten grammes had not been adopted. I should hope, however, that the present arrangement is not a permanent one. The French Government was not prepared to agree to any weight but ten grammes or one-third of an ounce; but I think that before long it will agree to fifteen grammes, or half an ounce, which has been adopted by nearly every other European State.