I beg to move the motion in my name:—
That the Government be asked to appoint a Commission, with power to examine voluntary witnesses, to inquire into and report on the desirability or otherwise of adopting the Metric System in Saorstát Eireann, and that it be a special instruction to such Commission to consider very carefully all the various possible intermediate courses between full adoption and non-adoption, such as adoption of the Metric System for measurements of length and area, but not for weights or capacity, adoption for official use (including Government contracts and stores and dutiable commodities), but not for general use (and so on), with a view to reporting on the desirability, if so thought fit, of some such partial adoption, if full adoption is considered, after inquiry, not to be desirable.
This motion asks the Government to appoint a Commission to inquire into the advisability of adopting the Metric System. My original intention in proposing the motion was to afford an early and ample opportunity to the Government to consider fully the advisability of adopting the Metric System. From my own observation on the subject, I believe, the present time is opportune, as we are now in a position to act independently and in advance of Great Britain. To do so would put us in closer touch with the requirements of foreign trade, and tend to promote direct commercial dealings with the Continent. The Seanad is aware that this system is obligatory in every European country, except Great Britain, Ireland, Russia and Turkey. It is obligatory in the Argentine, Chili, Peru and Mexico. It is permissive in the United States, Egypt and Japan. It has been made permissive by the Metric System Act of 1897, for use in Great Britain and Ireland.
One important consideration turning on the fact that the system is bound to come sooner or later, is, even if no part of it is thought feasible at present, that the people generally should be made familiar with the values and advantageous simplicities of the system of units. School children should be taught to regard it as something which will be an everyday concern of their lives, and not a remote study of foreign weights and measures. People generally should be made as familiar as possible with this system of units, and the proposed Commission would do a great deal to effect that state of affairs. I quite realise that this question is so big that an individual opinion does not count very much, but I think it is of sufficient importance to warrant us, and to warrant the Government considering it in all its aspects with a view to seeing if it is advisable or desirable to adopt the system partly or wholly.