John Kilopascal wrote in USMA 19429: >If I'm not mistaken, for awhile in the 1970s and 1980s, it was illegal to >import non-metric measuring devices and tools. Even though the law was >later rescinded, the damage was done. For that time people were forced to >use metric only and had metric only tools, thus the adaptation was quicker. >If England and Canada had done the same, neither would be using Simperial >now.
The report of the Metrication Section, "Metrication in Australia", 26 July 1982, said "Arising out of this policy towards dual measurement the Board sought and obtained an amendment to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations to prohibit the importation of non-essential, non-precision measuring instruments for ordinary use except where it could be demonstrated that they were essential for the continued operation and maintenance of existing imperial plant which it would be costly or impractical to convert. At the same time an agreement between local manufacturers of measuring instruments, was obtained, if somewhat reluctantly, to manufacture dual or imperial instruments for the Australian market, only under conditions which would have applied if those instruments were to have been imported. ................................................................................ "Unfortunately, the Board chose not to pursue a change in public attitudes through usual public relations processes but chose instead to bring about a change in measurement usage through a change in the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations, which were regulations not primarily intended to regulate the units of measurement used in a particular field but for a different purpoose altogether. Regrettably, in hindsight, this action by the Board must be seen as inappropriate and bureaucratic and a departure from the policy of conversion by consensus which had worked so well before." Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
