"GREENWICH TIME" JUBILEE
November 18 was the jubilee of the Royal' Observatory, Greenwich, attaining'the proud position of arbiter of the world's time. It was on November 18, 1883, that' Sir Sandford Fleming, the Scottish engineer and publicist, who had emigrated to Canada thirty-three years earlier, secured the adoption of his scheme for dividing the earth into twenty-four zones, the time within each differing;from that of Greenwich by an exact number-of hours. The reform was largely due to the difficulties previously experienced in the operation of the Aniorican railways, it being estimated that in 1880 there were as many as eighty different "times" on various parts d£ thfiir systems. Today" practically the whole of the civilised world with the exceptions of Holland and Calcutta, follows standard time, with tht> slight 'modification- that in some* cases there are half-hour differences. A year ago it was announced that four further British-possessions, the Solomon Inlands Ocean Island, and the Gilbert and Ellice' Islands, had'been brought into line.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 36, 12 February 1934, Page 16
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163"GREENWICH TIME" JUBILEE Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 36, 12 February 1934, Page 16
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