The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-18
TIME BALL FOR
HONOLULU PORT
Surveyor Wall Points Out the
Necessity for 0ne---WouId
Cost $1,000.

he question Of time ball for the
port IS one that has been oeeunvin,
the attention of suveyor Wall for some
time and in his opinion now is the
time TO bring the matter up again. In
view Of the experience of the past short
time, while the Big Pour squadron has
been IN port, and tie expected com
ing or the big meet within few
months, the value of such a time in
dictator as is proposed is obvious, while
for port of the Importance of Ho-
nolulu the question Of an indicator Civ
ing the correct time by which ships
chronometers may be regulated IS an
important one. From time to time the
matter Of an appropriation for the in
stating of time ball here has been
brought up in the Legislature, but the
appropriation has never been passed.
Then Mr.. Wall suggested that the com
mereial interests of the city might well
afford to contribute the thousand dol
lars necessary for the placing of the
apparatus, but this phase of the mat
ter was dropped in turn when it be
came known that the naval station
here was in communication with the
photographic Bureau at Washington
with view to having time ball in
stalled in connection with the sta
tion.
This would have been better even
than one installed by the Territory, as
the apparatus could have been CON
trolled by cable direct from the Mare
Island navy yard. The man in charge
at Mare Island would press the but
ton and the ball would fall in Homo
lulu. Unfortunately this matter has
also been allowed to lapse and the mat
ter once more IS up to Honolulu.
Mr.. Wall secured permission some
time ago to install the time bali on the
roof of the Alexander Young Hotel,
from which position it would be visible
not only from all the ships in tle har-
bOA b4I 44OAI Oh pOAuNc VI SAC
town as wen, affording much better
means of regulating timepieees than by
the time whistle now in use. This
whistle is of great benefit generally to
the public, but not so much so to those
to whom the question of half a second
variation in a chronometer is a big
- h. Se%l FOL
time TO carry and the time depends on
atmospheric conditions and the prevail
ing wind. The fall of a naI can be
seen without loss of time
Ever since the cruisers have been in
port the officers have been calling at
the Surveyor Office for the purpose
of comparing their chronometers with
the official time. The masters of yes
sells are also frequent callers on Mr..
Wall for the same purpose. In the
Surveyor s office are three timepieees,
keeping tab on each other, while OBJ
servations by means of the fixed meri-
dian telescope are taken at intervals
of every three or four days that the
three timepieces can be checked up by
the sun. 1t is very rarely that any of
the three are found to vary from the
true time by over quarter of a sec
ond.
In connection with the time ball, if
it is installed, time signals can be
given by electrical bells in the offices
of the various shipping agencies, the
shops, the Office of the
railroad company and of the Rapid |
Transit and elsewhere in the city where
the correct time is matter of i'm
portanee.
To install the time bah apparatus
will cost in the neighborhood of a
thousand dollars, according to the plans
and blue prints secured by the Sur
veyor from the photographic Office.
The operation of the ball could be done
IN connection with the work of the
Surveyors office. 1t would be of the
yreatest benefit to the port, enough 10
Justify the expense many times over.
1t would seem that this matter was
properly one for the Federal govern
nent to handle, but the central gov
,rnment is never in a hurry. For in
tanee. the matter OF operating and
,eeping the records of the tide gauge
n the harbor here is clearly one to be
Undertaken in connection with the Coast
survey service, but ever since annex
tion it has been done by the Terri
orv. Eventually it will be taken over
X the Federal government, but IN the
MEANWHILE the matter of records Is too
important to be allowed to drop. There
ore the work is continuing exactly as
was before the Stars and Stripes
GATED officially over Hawaii nei.