What's o'clock.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14039, 23 October 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

What's o'clock.

LOCAL TIME. The earth, explains'a contributor to the " New Zealand Times," rotates at the rate of lodeg. in ail hour therefore t\v opkices Lxleg. iapa:t diflcr one hour in their local moon; so it is necessary in describing the time ot any occurrence to speciiy by what meridian the' time is regulated. Greenwich time is used through CI rent Britain, lielgium, Jlolhmd, Australia, .Japan, and New Zealand. All places to the east- of Greenwich, as far as the 180 th meridian, are fast oil (Jreenwicli time, and all places west- oi ISOth meridian are slow on Greenwich time. Thus New Zealand, which is l<2de<r. east of Greenwich, is, roughly speaking, 11' hours ahead ol Greenwich time, or, when it is noon at Greenwich it is 11 .HO p.m. in New Zealand. Hut to get New Zealand mean time, take tht> meridian 17'2 deg. HOniiu as roughly halving tin- map of New Zealand. Then Kast Cape will he about (Meg. east, and l'uysegnr I'oint about (Meg. west of this meridian, and Lincoln, near Christ church, will be on the Vine. Therefore local noon at T illcoin will be i'-lmin later than East Capo, '.and 'iMmin earlier tVian l'uysegnr I'oint. for as the earth rotates at, the rate of Ideg in four minutes a diffen-ncec of (Meg in position will give n difference!- of *_'4 minutes in time. Wellington is about. 2deg Jomin cast of this meridian, so noon at Wellington is nine minutes earlier than • atLincoln. All this difference in local noons would result in refusion, so a .standard time for New Zen land is given everv hour from a regulated standard clock at the ITeetor Memorial OJiServatorv to the Wellington I'ost. Office liy a galvanometer signal. Kve>'v morning, just liefore nine, the telegraph operators are ill their places signalling f° r the attention of ixisf" offices and nrilwav stations all over New Zeal ind. The officer in charge watches the hand of the galvanometer, a»d the moment it liegins to swing he calls out "Time." and in insf'int response everv oi>orator tans the f) o'clock signal through his instrument and every publie clock is adjusted throughout the length ami breadth of the Dominion.