The suburban citizen., 1901-01-12
THE NEW TIME SYSTEM
ONE THING THAT MAY COME WITH
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.


Prime Meridian--some EARLY Methods
-Cocoanuts CIocks-TiIning by Water.
The new century will bring about
many changes, but perhaps none OF
such everyday Importance as the pro
posed new method of timekeeping
One of the most practical results will
be that noon at Greenwich will be 12
O'clock all over the world. At present
each day is spread over forty-elght
(and in some instances fifty-flve)
hours in different places. With the
new system 1t viii have it beginning
and end within twenty-four hours all
over the globe. The hours on our
watches and clocks, too, will run from
one to twenty-four. 1t would seem odd
for a while to order theatre carriages
at half-past twenty-five in place of
half-past ten.
The waggish reply "A quarter-past
thirteen" made by the policeman in
the "Bab Ballads" will become the
aa'SGaErect way of indicating "a quarter
past one" But after all, this will
only be an enlargement of what actu-
ally begun as far hack as 1886, when
the time for all through trains on
the Canadian Pacific Railroad was
first reckoned in hours running from
one to twenty-four.
WILL PREVENT COMPLICATIONS.
The fixing Of a universal prime mer-
idlan will do away with the ambiguity
which, as railways and telegraphs be.
come multiplied lead to such confusing
complications in social and CONNER
cial affairs, to errors in chronology,
to litigation in connection with success
sion to property, insurance matters,
contracts, etc. The present variations
of time are readily demonstrated by
selecting points in four regions about
ninety degrees apart, for instance, ia
pan, Arabia, Newfoundland and Alas
ka. On Sunday at midnight in Japan
It is noon in Newfoundland, and on
two distinct days, viz, Sunday and
Monday. To explain this apparently
contradictory statement note that Ara
bia being west of Japan, the time
there tat midnight in Japan would be
p. m. Sunday, while in Alaska, being
east of Japan, it would be 6 a. m. on
Monday. At p. m. on Sunday in Ara
bia it must be Sunday noon in New
foundland, and at a. m. on Monday
in Alaska 1t must be Monday noon
ninety degrees further east H. e., in
Newfoundland also. Thus 1t will be
seen by tracing time both east and
west from a given point to its anti
podes the clock on the one hand be-
come twelve hours slower, and on the
other hand twelve hours faster. And,
therefore, it follows, as already stated,
that when it is midnight on Sunday in
Japan, at precisely that same moment
it is noon at Newfoundland on two dis
tinct days, namely, Sunday and Mon
day.
PERPLEXING PROBLEMS.
1t is only another application of this
complicated method of time reckoning
which gave rise to the following Incl
dent A telegraphic message, dated
"Simla, 1855 a. m., Wednesday," was
received in London at 11.47 p. m. on
Tuesday. The clerk very naturally
exclaimed: "Why, this message was
sent off tomorrow" The same per-
picking problem has been presented
by imagining a car suspended from
the sun, and in the car man who in
quires the day and time as a town
rolls eastward beneath him. The an
swer, "12 o'clock noon, Monday" is
given. Presently another town comes
under the car. The man asks the same
question and receives the same reply,
for, of course it must always be noon,
the town being Immediately beneath
the sun. Now comes the question,
"When will the man in the car first
receive the answer ~ o'clock noon,
Tuesday," The solution is found in
the fact that in travelling across the
Pacific from west to east one day has
to be repeated before reaching the
American coast. IT, for example, the
correction be made on Saturday, July
4, there will be two Saturdays in the
same week and two days Of the month
dated July 4,
1t is this variation Of time, too,
which forms the pivotal point Of the
story, "ArOund the World in Eighty
Days" in which the traveller, who
wagered at his London club that he
could go around the world and be back
at the club in eighty days, so nearly
lost his bet. He had forgotten this DIFF
ference of day, and thought that he
had completed his journey twenty-fOur
hours too late,
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS.
Does any one ask, 'What is going
to straighten this out and bring about
order out of the existing chaosY The
answer is by simply putting into op.
Grafton the results of the deliberations
of the international meridian confer.
ence, which met in Washington at the
invitation Of President Arthur in Oc-
tober, 1884, for the express purpose