Familiar Unknown

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 145, 10 April 1940, Page 5

Familiar Unknown

"We sell pickled cod by the barrel, trawled cod at so much each, hooked cod by the score, crimped cod by the pound, shrimps by the stone, soles by the pair. Dutch smelts go by the basket, and English smelts by the hundred. Butter in Ireland is sold by the cask and the firkin,, in England by the pound of 160z5,, by the roll of 24ozs, the stone, and the hundred-weight (which is not lOOlbs as in Canada and the United States, but 1121bs). A load of straw is 1,2961b5, of old hay 21601b5, though it is not specified when hay becomes old. A firkin of butter is 561bs y a firkin of soap 641bs, and a firkin of raisins 1211bs. A hogshead of beer is 54 gallons, but a hogshead of wine is 63 lons. So a pipe of Marsala is 93 gallons, of Madeira 92 gallons, of Bucellas 117 gallons, of port 103 gallons, and of Teneriffe 100 gallons. A stone weight of a living man is 141bs, but a stone weight - of n dead ox is 81 bs, a stone of cheese is lfilbs, of glass olbs, of iron lllbs, of hemp 321bs, of flax at Belfast 16 3 /£lbs, and at Downpatrick 241bs„ of avool sold by growers 141b, sold bv woolstaplers 141bs, sold_ to each other lolbs, while a hundredweight of pork is Slbs heavier at Belfast than it is at Cork (another injustice to Ireland). A. barrel of beef is 2001bs, of butter or flour 196'1b5,, of gunpowder lOOlbs, of soft soap 2561b5, of beer 36 gallons, and of tar 26% gallons, while a barrel) of herrings is 500 fish. Shall we win the war?" —Letter to the Editor of the N.Z. Listener.