TNAG-1363-FCO40-1809-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 24

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4.

There is no denying that much remains to be

it

done in the traditional market places, where there appears

to be reluctance to going metric.

While it is the

intention of the Metrication Committee to concentrate

its efforts in this area, I am afraid it would be extremely

rash of me to attempt any forecast of the likely timetable

for the achievement of this goal. In the final analysis,

metrication in all retail markets will be attained when

there is willingness and a desire on the part of both the

retailers and the general public for this change.

5.

To the consumer, the implementation of

metrication will remove the confusion which results from

different systems being used simultaneously: it should make

price comparison easier. However, to the extent that

the standard unit in the hawker and market stalls is the

catty there is already ease of comparison. I suspect that

the pressure for change will come through competition from the supermarkets with their prepackaged items with metric

units.

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