Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1904-01-08
SURVEYS IN THE PACIFIC.
""ny Islands OF the south Sea Groups
Have Been Placed Cpon
the Charts.

1
Several months ego Hon. Clifford
Sifton. minister OF the interior. rec-
commended to his colleagues the ,esira-
oiiity OF determining the longitude be-
tween Vancouver on the Pacific coast
and Brisbane in Australia. The rec
ommendation was approved, and an or
DER In council passed to that effect
Mr. w. +. King, the chief astronomer
oh the dominion, made all the neces-
sary arrangements, and appointed DR..
o'eo hiotz, Dominion astronomer. to
carry out the work. A cable has been
received from DR.. Klotz stating that his
mission has been successful. saws an
Ottawa (Can.) report.
Hitherto none of the myriad of Soutb
Sea Islands OF the Pacific ocean. living
oe."een the coasts of America and Aus
.raiia' nave been accurately charted as
10 longitude. OF course, they have been
approximately laid down In the mans.
put none with any degree Of certainty.
lney were what navigators would term
noating," in the sense that nayipatora
never knew within q considerable dis
lance where they would come upon n
certain island or group Of islands. This
was due to the fact that. owing To the
absence OF cable communication he
tween America and Australia. tbere
were no means of mathematically flying
the exact longitude of given point
In the Pacific. For this reason nayiga-
.ion was rendered to an appreciable ex-
tent more hazardous than In the other
/ oceans. Ships which had been caught
In logs, or had In some other way he
come uncertain of their exact reckon
ing, had to proceed with caution ana
often make long detours TO be sure OF
avoiding islands or groups Of Islands
which otherwise might prove danger
Gus to navigation. This affected navi-
CATION In the South seas. from a COM
mercial standpoint, in at least two re-
spects; insurance was higher than be-
tween ports which were accurately
chartered. and there was also a waste
or coal; time, and, CONSEQUENTLY. ex-
pense, In making detours when. had
the ocean been accurately chartered. a
direct course could have been MAIN
tained.
10 Canada. among all the nations of
the world, belongs the credit of remedy
Ing this state OF affairs. The building
or the Pacific cable, which was also
largely due to the part Canada played
In 1t, made this possible. The longitude
was accurately known to Vancouver
westward from Greenwich, and to Bris-
bane. Australia, eastward from Green
wich, but was not accurately laid down
between Vancouver and Brisbane. It
was to locate the longitude OF this space
and complete the girdling OF the globe
that DIR. Klotz proceeded, several months
ago, TO the South seas. The method
adopted was interesting. His assistant
preceded him to Tanning island, whence
he got into communication with DIR.
klotz at Vancouver by cable. and they
compared the chronometer readings
by cable SO as to measure the exact time
distance" between tho two points. This
was added to the time distance" from
Greenwich to Vancouver. DR.. Klotz
then proceeded to Suva. Fiji islands. and
there repeated the operation, adding
the time distance to that point. Then
similarly TO Norfolk island, and from
there TO Brisbane, where the time dis
tance was compared with that from
Greenwich eastward to Brisbane. The
result OF this work Will be that the alb
solutely certain longitude OF each of the
points named will be determined. and
these in turn can be taken as the center
from which photographic surveys will
be made Of the islands OF the Pacific. so
as to correct the existing charts. The
interest and Importance of the work
can hardly be exaggerated, and the re-
suits will prove of great commercial BEN
eft to the marine navigation of the
world