CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 8

C.0. 22375

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty': Goviments

CHINA TRADE.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[22064]

No. 1.

Rece

Rece 5 JUL 09)

[June 14.]

SECTION 4.

6

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 14.)

(No. 186.) Sir,

Peking, May 24, 1909. WITH reference to my despatch No. 263 of the 10th June, 1908, transmitting a translation of the regulations for the introduction of uniform weights and measures throughout China, I bave the honour to enclose a copy of a recent memorial by the Board of Commerce, in which they report that the Chinese Ministers in London and Paris have been called upon to procure patterns of British and French standards. The board have further started to build a factory, and have ordered machinery for making the new weights and measures.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN.

Inclosure in No. 1.

Extract from the Peiyang" Official Gazette" of May 3, 1909.

MEMORIAL by the Board of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce, reporting the steps they have taken towards the introduction of a uniform system of Weights and Measures.

(Translation.)

IN September last year a memorial of the Grand Secretariat and Government Council reporting on a memorial submitted by the Boards of Finance and Commerce with reference to a uniform system of weights and measures was sanctioned by the throne. The board at once proceeded to make the necessary arrangements, but the question is one of great difficulty, and it is essential that simultaneous action should be taken throughout the provinces. They now proceed to state the preliminary steps which have been taken. The first step necessary is to procure proper standards of weights and measures to serve as models for those to be issued to public authorities throughout the Empire. The standard measures employed in foreign countries are made of white metal (P platinum), and those countries which belong to the Metric Union obtain them from the union. China is not a member of the union, but with a view to securing uniformity the board have requested the Chinese Ministers in London and France to purchase British and French standard measures to serve as A site for a patterns, and have also ordered the necessary machinery from abroad. factory has been purchased inside the Hsi Chih Men, and the building should be completed in about six months. The cost of the machinery and of building will be about 60,000 taels.

As regards the provinces, officers will be sent by the provincial authorities to examine the weights and measures at present in use and to ascertain how many of the new standard measures will be required. Some opposition will doubtless be encountered, but as one specimen of the old measures will at first be retained, it should be possible to avoid any great inconvenience and finally to substitute the new standards. Reports have already been received from Chilli, Kirin, and Kwangtung that officers have been appointed to the post of director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, and the board have now pressed the other provincial authorities to furnish reports as soon as possible, and obtain returns as to the number of new standard measures required.

After pointing out the importance of a uniform system of weights and measures, the board request that an Imperial decree may be issued to all the high provincial authorities to take the necessary steps without delay.

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