The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-02-20
WHISTLES BLOW rife HOURS IN
wONDROUs WAY.
one is Right by Greenwich Time the
Others may be Right and Generally
are Wrong.

If the Scotch swain who sang "Oh
whistle and I'll come to We me lassie'
had lived in Honolulu he would have
been in a quandry when to move had
he tried to regulate his actions by the
town whistles.
The various whistles which go to dis
turb the day and mark the advent of
the opening and close of work day
and the noon hours rest are of Won
drous variety, both as to sound and the
time of blowing. According to the rate
at which they blow the world stands
still and old Father Time stops off for
a few minutes here twice a day and
waits in order to rest and give the
whistles a chance.
Honolulu is about 10 hours % minutes
and 20 seconds slower than the stand
ard time at Greenwich. An official rec
ord of the time with due consideration
for this difference, is kept by the sur
vey department however so while the
Greenwich man may be nearly half
day ahead of us, we know to fraction
of a second the time in the little Lon
don surbuTb.
The whistles of this place are not
very consistent however in regarding
the official time and blow with as little
consideration of that record as a Gov
eminent mule shows to the man who
supplies him with feed. In fact the
]
white check. Only one whistle i'm Ho-
nolulu pays any attention to 1t, the
others taking chances on catching the
| time at the precise instant.
The old familiar toot of the Electric
Company's whistle which is to the COM
munity SO full of subdued eloquence
when the three blasts announcing the
coming of a steamer are heard, is ac-
cepted by the majority as the correct
recorder of time in Honolulu but in
fallible as may be this whistle in an
nounCing the arrival of vessels 1t is not
quite so reliable in shrieking off the de-
parture of time. The whistle is within
"a few seconds of being right and some
times is right but it is not alas, infalli-
BILE. The fiendish Wheeling, catarrhal
tones of the brewery toot may arouse
fond thoughts in the minds of the com
munity and even drive some of the
people to drink but it too is not reliable
The dun roar of the Honolulu lrOr
works whistle is loud enough for the
employees to know when they can knock
off work but those men for all they
know, are perhaps half a minute behint
Greenwich time. But they can console
themselves with the thought that il
they do not quit work as soon as Green
witch time registers they do not go t
work until a relative time later so Its
a case of boss and boss.
, There are other whistles scattered
about town but the enc which is more
nearly correct and in fact is about a:
near right as the aid of electricity an,
mechanism can make it is the whist,
on Lucas brothers planning mill. :
3 special wire runs from the survey oftic,
= to the engine room and every day, eX
= cept Sundays and holidays, at IL moor
/ and 1880 p. m. the engineer is warned
: an instant before those hours tina
Greenwich time is approaching. Thre
rings are sent him over the gong ant
, at the final one he pulls the string ant
blows the whistle which is official in it
correctness.
The whistle is sounded at noon 70
e the benefit of the wOrkmen in the shol
; and at 1870 for the mariners in orde
) that they can regulate their chronome
ters, While there may be a slight vari
t alton of minute and a half on tn
= exact dot of 1880 the difference bein
not quite 1890 hours the mariners ca
$ easily calculate the difference. Othe
y. whistles blown by the Lucas mill ar
. timed by the clock which is kept in tn
! engine room and which is regulated a
{ close as possible to the official surVe
time.
The Electric Companys whistle
t some times few seconds ahead or be
y hind the Lucas whistle for the enginee
u of the former place takes his reckonin
u from the clock on the custom house
. and as the time piece is generally neal
> ly correct he is not out more than
> few seconds. The other places kee
: their own time and do their own blow
; ing accordingly. They extend all til
- way from two minutes to more, re
( cording in a wondrous way the passin
u y of time.