A NEW CALENDAR

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 135, 4 December 1935, Page 9

A NEW CALENDAR

TWELVE 3IOXTH PLAN

ADHERENTS GAINED

We have months which range in length from twenty-eight to thirty-one days and which have sometimes four Sundays and sometimes five and hence a variable number of business days, writes the science editor of the "New York Times." The year as well as the month may begin on any day of the week. Holidays which must fall on a fixed date (Christmas, New Year's, the birthday of a national hero, the anniversary of some historical event) may occur on any day of the week. Easter lies somewhere between March 22 and April 25. Elections are held on the first. Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

All this is so confusing that a committee was appointed by the League of Nations some years ago to consider calendar reform. First a committee made an inquiry in 1926. Later (1931), there was a general conference attended by the representatives of forty-one nations.

As the result of the discussions aroused by the League's activities public opinion in favour of calendar reform is gradually becoming articulate. Some day civilised nations will have a calendar which will meet the requirements of business men, schools, and the church and which need not be referred to on some wall or desk in order to find out on what day of the week the new month or the new year falls. But what calendar shall we adopt? The International Fixed Calendar League is all for the thirteen-month plan; the World Calendar Association is championing a scientifically constructed twelve-month system. For a time it seemed as if the thirteenmonthers would win. Now support seems to, be swinging to the twelvemonthers. : The thirteen-month calendar was devised in 1888 by Moses B. Cotsworth. Sponsored by the late George Eastman of Kodak fame, it was officially supported before the League Conference of 1931 by Canadian and Yugoslav delegates and unofficially by one American. Italy, Japan, Belgium, the Irish Free State, the Netherlands, and Sweden were among the nations that objected to it. THE EXTRA MONTH. The extra thirteenth month in the Cotsworth calendar is called "Sol" and is inserted between June and July. Every month begins with Sunday and contains exactly twenty-eight days. An extra so-called "Year Day" is insertid at the end of every year, and an. extra "Leap Day" between the sixth and seventh months of every leap year. A few business firms have used the thirteen-month calendar for bookkeeping. But the world is so wedded to a twelve-month calendar that one based on any other division of the year could be adopted only' if all countries were governed by Hitlers and Mussolinis who would agree to enforce it. At a meeting held on October 4 the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia passed a resolution welcoming the possible adoption "of the twelve-month plan, provided a substantially unanimous agreement among the civilised peoples of the world is secured in favour of the change." The twelve months of this World Calendar are .divided into four exactly equal quarters, consisting of a month of 31 days, followed by two. months of 30 days each. A quarter would always begin on a Sunday and each month would contain 26 weekdays. At the end of every year there would be an extra Saturday ("December V" or December 31 if you like numbers better). At the end of June in the leap year there would also be an extra Saturday ("June L" or June 31). Like the present leap yeae this one would fall in any year divisible by four, except century years that cannot be divided by 400. : . COMPARISONS MADE EASIER. But for the insertion of an extra day every leap year the calendar would require no change from year to 3Tear. Fixed holidays would always fall on the same, day of the week. School principals could begin terms on exactly the same day of the ■ month and week, year in and year out. Statistical comparisons with past twelvemonth years could be made with ease. . The American Philosophical Society is not alone in advocating this world calendar. Bishop Manning saw to it that it was unanimously adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church.. The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York has endorsed it. The American. Statistical Association voted 70 per cent, in favour of it as against the thirteen-month plan. The only serious opposition has come from religious bodies, though it must be said that the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church has declared itself in favour of a fixed Easter. It is objected to by a few Christian de» nominations and. some Jews and Mohammedans that the insertion of an extra Saturday at the end of each year and in the middle of each' leap year destroys the seven-day week. How is a believer to toil six days and rest on the seventh? The answer is that the devout 9o not object to "gaining" a day in going around the world from west to east, a double Saturday (May 4, for example), or "losing" a day when the international date line is crossed in going east to west. Much more important is the question of fixing Easter. In a statement issued by the American Philosophical Society it is said that "the movement for the stabilisation of Easter is making rapid progress throughout the Christian world."

Swarms of, crickets recently invaded maxy parts of Consett, County Durham, and disturbed the rest of miner 3 and their families. Ammonia traps and other supposed remedies failed to rid the districts of the pest.