Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-20
TINE THE WORLD OVER.
Various Standards rs~d In Many Parts OF
the Earth.

Various Standards Cs~d In Many Parts Of
the Earth.
From Nature.
At the poles. where all meridians converge.
there can be no natural standard time. for IL is
every hour 6 the day at once; but the regula-
ton OF time at these singular points has not yet
become 4 burning question. We're the system
OF time reckoning recommended by the prime
meridian conference carried out in its entirety
the minutes indicated on all weil-regulated
clock dials throughout the world would be the
same at given instant. but the hours would
differ at each Is degrees Of longitude BY steps
OF one, twenty-four standards encircling the
globe. Thus. for example. at twenty-five min
utes past noon Of the prime Tor rather the zero)
meridian clocks 30 degrees east would show IS
p. m. IL b. Is m. }; those 90 degrees west 625
am. % b. 25 m. }, and those of $50 degree IS
minutes past midnight The zero meridian
adopted by the prime meridian conference is
that OF Greenwich; and definite time standards
based on hourly intervals from this starting
line have been used since 1883 on the rsilvavs
OF North America. That continent is divided
into strips Of Is degrees in width. in each 81
which a separate time standard prevails from
the Gulf OF Mexico 20 Hudson BAY Atlantic
time in the Eastern Province OF canada aud in
Newfoundland shows a. m. at Greenwich noon:
eastern time in the Atlantic states of the Union
marks am. at the same moment. while CEN
trail, mountain and Pacific time indicate re-
spectively 6, and am. The meridians which
set the clocks across America are those of 90
degrees. rs degrees. 90 degrees. los degrees and
100 degrees west
The conditions in Europe are more comph-
Gated than in America. Each small closely
peopled country with its national observatory
naturally tends to adopt throughout its psrticu-
lar national time. although even this Is still
desideratum in some. In the difficult subdi-.
visions of i,ap L..
number Of independent and unrelated stand
ards was a grevous obstacle to the interpreta-
ton Of through railway time tables.
The British Islands. living nj the extreme west
of Europe. should logically keep time ~ the
zero meridian which intersects Greenwich OBJ
servatory. while the Russian empire IN Eu-
rope, al least was. bv its system of central
government and state control Of railroads.
equally committed 10 the time Of ~. Peters
burg. But Pulkovs observatory lies two hours
east OF Greenwich plus one minute and a quar-
ter. and the alterations required is small that
II may be said already 60 constitute east Euro
pean time two hours in advance of Greenwich.
or the standard time Of west Europe The meri.
dian of Is degrees F., running through Nor
way. Sweden. Germany. Austria and italy,
corresponds 10 central European time
one hour in advance ~ that of
Greenwich, and If national prejudices
and local inertia were overcome the time
Of Europe would be placed on a simple footing
by its adoption. The railways of Austro-
Hungary have used central European time on
this system since October !. 1891. More than
fifty towns in the monarchy have since then
regulated their clocks to correspond. Vienna
being the only conspicuous exception where
local time IL used for local purposes Servian
time tables have been assmilated TO those Of
central Europe and Bulgarian TO eastern
Europe: while Turkey, pulled two WAYS. Yields
on both sides following central European time
on the Salonica railway and eastern time on the
Constantinople line.
In Sweden railway time has been that Of
central Europe us degrees T. since 1879 and
In south Germany the change 20 the same
standard took place April /. 1892. fact of
much greater importance. because a feat very
difficult TO accomplish. The four standards Of
Bavaria. Wurtemburg. Baden and Alsace-I.or-
raine were previously in Use concurrently, and
| the change involved retardiug the nominal
hours of all trains from fourteen minutes in
the case of Bavaria to thirty-four minutes in
that Of keichsland. LuXemburg came into
| harmony with the rest of central Europe at the
| same date. losing thirty-siN minutes.
BY decision Of the federal council in Nav
| last mean solar time of the fifteenth meridian
4 will become standard time for the whole Ger
man empire April l. 1893. when IL exclusively
will be employed for railways. telegraph and
| all state purposes. Already several places in
| north Germany have adopted the time.
and II can be only matter Of "A few years for
the simpler uniform system to acquire a foot
| ing for all PURPOSES of private life.
| The number of European time standards is
stated by DIR. Busschere to have been twenty
| four on January 1. 1891, and by the end of 1892
4 II will only be thirteen. of these three are
meridianal standards. while ten are the times
of capitals viz: Paris. Madrid. Lisbon Rome
Berne. Bucharest. Athens Copenhagen Ber-
lin and st. Petersburg but tine last as already
mentioned, practically belongs to the former
| category. 1t now remains only for France,
Spain and Portugal 10 adopt western European
| time; for Denmark. Switzerland and Italy 10
accept central time, and for Greece and Rou-
mania to join the other Balkan states in using
central or eastern time. and the change will be
complete.
Strangely enough. although foreign writer's
one in their time standard, there exists in the
United Kingdom diversity illogical as that
which formerly reigned in the states Of SOUTH
ern Germany. While Great Britain and the
small island groups associated with il keep the
time OF the initial meridian. now extended TO
Belgium and Holland on the east. ireland is
regulated by Dublin time. Thus il happens
that when the post Office clock in Stornoway
C degrees Is minutes W. shows noon that in
Donaghadee g degrees 30 minutes W. only
marks l1h. 81 m.
As long ago as 1888 Japan adopted for its
standard time that of the ninth hour interval
from Greenwich Cl35 degrees east. so that the
clocks which regulate the movements of the
japanese are set nine hours IN advance of ours.
India, Australia and Cape Colony remain in
dependent in their time relations. although
simple an adjustment as is required might form
graceful concession to the spirit of federation
without sacrifice to local dignity