AT a time when the world is becoming smaller through quicker travel, computer technology and satellite communications, it would appear that the imperial measure of a yard has also become smaller - and lost one inch.

I was amazed to see in Shelley Wright's article (LET, August 6), goods currently sold loose having to be sold by metric weight and measurement with effect from January 1, 2000 and that an imperial yard was 35 inches.

Can we put the record straight, please - because, whether we use imperial or metric measurements, 12 inches make one foot and three feet (or 36 inches) make one yard, unless mathematical tables have been converted in this changing world.

Perhaps the article did make me aware of the difference between the 'older and younger' generations, as I am very familiar with feet/inches and pound/ounces, but may flounder with centimetre/metre and gramme/kilogramme when they become the total norm of our daily working lives.

RITA WAKELEY (Mrs) (Co-ordinator, Blackburn and District Chamber of Trade), Strawberry Bank, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.