CHRISTCHURCH CLOCKS

NZ Truth, Issue 276, 8 October 1910, Page 5

CHRISTCHURCH CLOCKS

Tell Different Times. j There are a large numlber of publ clocks m Ohristohurch, and all usji to tell a different tale, so that whS tfre anxious resident failed to oou| tht> hour at the first shot, he cou" wait for several other clocks, all j which mright be expected to make ? noise within five minutes . This va| ation m the hour was deemed to \ unsatisfactory, however, and an el^ trical system was introduced, | which the hands of- each dial m tj city would be controlled from t| Town Clerk's office, every timepiej synchronised, and pealed fortii t| hour simultaneously and with muf noise. At least, tliey were suppos| to do that if the synchronisati^ had {been a success. Obviously t§ scheme has its disadvantages, 1| cause when a citizen has been of late at the club, for instance", a^ Paused on the way home, to shanibeji the fact that the clocks subsetiueij ly struok the hour would bie no go| to him because he wouldn't kb<| what hour it was. The difficulty | following the note .of one particul| clock m a multitude of dongs wouj be so great as to? be untbink*^ So far, liowev<er, the scheme to tori! the clocks back to scratch, a ll | the same mark, bas not been sil cessful, and some aged clock's, re| dered frisky by the unwonted / shoc| of electricity m - their interior, togg* gone on a. most daplorable ran u& and have fallen from the bigjh p^ tion of staid respectability. The ju| lee clock, which is useless- to ai^, body a coup Its of yards away, owafj to its skjjuat proportions, got ps§ ticularly giddy and was m disgrjjj for a considerable time ; and the lsf est teacksliaer is the post office cle<g which .went on a terrific bend for fits eral days. It was ten minutes ah»| of all other clocks, and every t-iil-it struck, h : £,lf tb* population, w|| thought they were m plenty of tin§ for work m the morning and aft|§ aoon, went temporarily road ; peofl arriving from the suburbs fourwi tbj| • they had apparently missed westei| eastern, nortliern or southern caD§ and returned honne, Vac cars thef; selves hurtled throush suace to m4| up imaginary lost time like tbp spifr' of a defunct parson pursuing the d|j embodied form of a tray4nt throu|| the celestial regions ; mails w<^: missed by persons who realised tihjt it was no use running, and the im^| son who committed a robbery W tbio South Belt was able to prof that he was m the Square at tg exact moment of its perpetratit|f In a general way of speaking:. Chritij church has be?n shook up, and Chritv church doesn't like being shook up.fe