Dear Ezra and All, An interesting situation arose in Australia a few summers ago when one state (Victoria) was experiencing a worse than usual bush fire (I think these are called wild fires in the USA). They called for help from a neighbouring state (New South Wales) only to discover that each of the two states had decided to use differing standards for purchasing of their hose fittings � the two fire service's fittings wouldn't fit.
At the post mortem held after the fire, I don't think that issue such as 'market forces' and 'individual freedom' were very high on the agenda. All Australian states now have fire fighting fittings that are made to uniform standards. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia on 2002-10-08 04.47, Ezra Steinberg at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Jim Elwell wrote (in part): > >> He (the "metric martyr" -- Ezra) refused to use a NEW approved scale system. >> He had a perfectly good one >> that the government had approved in the past. > > So, then, for example, if a manufacturer has an existing long-standing > approved > fire-protection system for his plant and is suddenly told by the government > that a different fire protection system must be installed, is that ALWAYS > unacceptable? Should "market forces" only decide which kind of fire protection > system should be used in the country? > > Ezra >
