Metrication in New Zealand

Metrication in New Zealand
New Zealand logo of metrication.

New Zealand started metrication in 1969 with the establishment of the Metric Advisory Board (MAB) and completed metrication on 14 December 1976 [1].

Contents

Strategy toward Metrication

The New Zealand metric symbol, which can be seen to the right, was introduced in March 1971. In order to give metrication a human face, a baby girl whose parents agreed to cooperate was named Miss Metric.[citation needed] News and pictures of her progress were intermingled with press releases about the progress of metrication. By the end of 1972 the temperature scale, road sign, and measures used in the sale of such items as wool and milk had been metricated. Only a few letters voiced outright opposition to the changeover.[dubious ]

Current exceptions

Although New Zealand has now completed metrication, a decreasing number of people, most often older people, use the old imperial units for birth weight and human height in day-to-day talk.[2]

The aviation industry is one of the last major users of the old imperial system: altitude and airport elevation is measured in feet, and distance and speed are still measured in nautical miles and knots respectively. All other aspects (fuel quantity, aircraft weight, runway length, etc) use metric.

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References