Sessional_Paper_1884-1885 — Page 161

No. 16.

Petition by certain Chinese Merchants for Permission to use the Kau Ng Chek (foot measure).

Presented to the Legislative Council by the Honourable Wong Shing on April 8th, 1885.

To

THE HONOURABLE THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HONGKONG.

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED MERCHANTS.

HUMBLY SHEWETH :-

1.--That your Petitioners are merchants who have for many years been engaged in trade in and with this Colony.

2.That your Petitioners have in the course of their business always used and adopted a certain Standard of measurement commonly known in English as a Chinese foot or Chek and called in Chinese "Kau Ng Chek."

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3. That this Chinese foot or chek is the common foot of commerce in this Colony and is not a class measure of length.

4. That this Chinese foot or chek is subdivided into Ten Chinese inches and is equivalent to 9 inches of the Chek or foot commonly called in Chinese as "Pai Chin Chek" which is used by the Treasurer of Kwong Tung Province principally for the measure of land.

5. That this Chinese foot is only .13 of a Chinese inch shorter than the Standard Chek used in all the Custom Houses in China in accordance with Article No. XXXIV of the Tientsin Treaty between Great Britain and China.

6. That the Kau Ng Chek is about 13 English inches; the Custom House Standard chek is about 14.1 English inches; and the Canton Treasurer's chek is about 14ğ English inches.

7.--That there is no universal Standard chek used in China.

8. That when English goods are imported into China it is usual in the cases where the duty is levied on the length to convert the English measures into measurements according to the Custom House Standard chek which is equal to 14.1 English inches and is only .13 of one Chinese inch longer than the Kau Ng Chek as aforesaid.

9.-That the chek exclusively used in Pekin is a chek of the same length as the Kau Ng chek; and that the Kau Ng chek is well known to all Chinese and has been commonly in use in this Colony for at least thirty years.

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