The Girdle of the World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue II, 9 January 1904, Page 51

The Girdle of the World.

A CHxiT WITH PROFESSOR KLOTZ. On January Ist, at the very gateway of the New Year, the astronomic girdle of the world was to be completed. A message on New Year’s Day was sent round the circuit for the first time, and the girdle which Professor Otho Klotz set out to complete was accomplished. An interviewer from this paper had a conversation with Professor Klotz, and got some account of his work from him. VI have completed my work in New Zealand now,” he said, “and that com- } fetes the circuit of the world. I have ust returned from Doubtless Bay, where I took the necessary observations for connecting it with Washington observatory, and thereby New Zealand, with the longitude work that has been carried from Greenwich to Canada, across the Atlantic and along the ‘all-red’ line of cable to Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, at the Sydney observatory, the connection was made with the longitude work that had been carried from Greenwich eastward to India and Singapore, and thence to Australia, thereby completing the circuit of the earth."’ “And as the result of all this work?” "Is that we have something of a practical as well as a scientific value; and, besides that, there is some sentiment represented in the work from the fact that Canada took a pride in girdling the world and in tying the various parts of the Empire astronomically. “The practical value lies in its usefulness in giving us, especially in the Pacific, more precise positions for the whole of the Pacific islands, and that in this respect it will be of great benefit to navigation in improving the Admiralty charts. “At Doubtless Bay I also made a determination of the force of gravity, by means of pendulum observations, and determined the distance from the centre of the earth at the point of observation. Precise figures I cannot give you as yet on that point. I have also determined the various magnetic elements of declination and inclination and total force in New Zealand.” Professor Klotz will be unable to attend the Science Congress in Dunedin, much to his regret, his time being limited. He probably will remain in Auckland for five days, and after visiting Rotorua go to Wellington to complete a few more observations, returning thence to Australia.