N.Z. STANDARDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 136, 6 December 1938, Page 12

N.Z. STANDARDS

WORK OF INSTITUTE

OVERSEA INTEREST

A letter received from the United States National Committee of the International Commission on Illumination in reference to the draft standard code for recommended illumination va'ues issued by the Now Zealand Standards Institute,- evidenf.es t^c interest in oversea^ countries in the standards activity that is being carried on in the Dominion. ■ The letter is addressed to the Standards Institute, and reads: —

"The draft of your standard code for recommended illumination values has come to our attention. This proposed standard code certainly is excellent, and you are to be congratulated.

"In the preparation of the report of the technical committee, 62b, lighting practice for the coming International Commission on Illumination session in Holland next year, we would like to refer to and quote from your proposed standard code.

"This report must be submitted in the next two months, and if there is any adoption of this code, we would be very glad to include this in the report rather than as a proposed code. We would, therefore, appreciate your advising us as to the status of this code, and, if it is agreeable to you, to have us refer to and quote from it."

The issue of a New Zealand standard specification for the treatment, grading, and classification of hides, yearlings, and calfskins (N.Z.S.S. 161) has also evoked considerable interest abroad. Inquiries for copies of the standard have been received from the principal countries to which New Zealand hides are exported, so , that purchases can be made on the basis of the standard provisions, while overseas industrial and scientific organisations have purchased, copies for information. Amongst these latter are:—The International Council of Tanners, London: the Director of Economic Affairs, Java (Department Van Economische Zaken); and the Scientific Institution of the State of Hamburg (Hamburgisches Welt.-Wirt-scha'fts—Archiv). The standard, as its title suggests, defines the treatment and grades of these skins for the purpose of establishing uniform practice throughout the Dominion, and for improving the quality of our export hides. Its adoption and applicaiion by the industry has been universal.

In much the same way the provisions of a New Zealand standard specification for galvanised (zinc-coated) steel fencing wire (N.Z.S.S. 143) are being adopted by manufacturers in order to meet the consumer demand. Fencing wire is manufactured overseas, and manufacturers have been quick to seize the advantage of manufacturing wire, for sale in the Dominion, to the requirements of the New Zealand standard, and to mark it as conforming in accordance with the provisions of the sioecification, which stimulates that: "Each coil of wire shall carry a t?§ showing the weight, gauge. tirade, type, tensile strength of the wire, and the manufacturer's name or mark. All wire manufactured in accordance wilh this specification may have attached to it the reference number of this New Zealand standai'd specification in association with the manufacturer's name or mark, and the name of the New Zealand distributor. ■ sufficient to identify both original sup'olier and distributor. Taes for type A wire ffirstclass galvanising) shall have a blue background, and tnis for type B (second-class galvan'sinT) shall have a yellow background." Several imnortant interests have already applied for authority to use Ihe statement on their | labels attached to fencing wire, intimating the relevant grade to which the wire conforms, according to the New Zealand standard.