King. — On New Zealand Mean Time. 437 



maker. One of the mean time clocks is also by Dent, and 

 is an instrument of the same class as the sidereal clock, 

 with zinc and steel compensation. A second mean time 

 clock, by Moore, of Clerkenwell, has a mercurial compensa- 

 tion ; and the third mean time clock, by Moore, is the one 

 which drops the time-ball and sends signals to various parts 

 of the colony. This clock is fitted with an electro-magnetic 

 apparatus which enables the clock to signal time automati- 

 cally every hour to certain places in town (the Museum, 

 the Telegraph Office, and the shops of the leading watch- 

 makers) and to drop the time-ball on Waterloo Quay at 

 noon each day. The same clock is frequently placed in 

 direct connection with the telegraph offices at Lyttelton and 

 Port Chalmers, and thus signals true time, without human 

 intervention, for the use of navigators at those ports. If 

 the time-balls at Lyttelton and Port Chalmers — and, indeed, 

 the one at Auckland also — were equipped with the neces- 

 sary electro-magnetic dropping gear, they could be operated 

 by the clock direct from the Observatory, just as our own 

 time-ball now is ; a distinctly better plan than the present 

 one, under which uniformity of time at the several ports is 

 not easily secured. Still, any navigator at Auckland, Lyttel- 

 ton, or Dunedin (or at any other port) can, through the 

 co-operation of the Telegraph Department, obtain time- 

 signals direct from Wellington Observatory in case he feels 

 dissatisfied with the indications given him by the local time- 

 balls ; and this opportunity is frequently taken advantage 

 of by the commanders of merchant ships and the navigating 

 officers of men-of-war. Sometimes special signals are sent 

 for important purposes. Thus, when H.M.S. "Penguin" a 

 year ago wished to determine the longitudes of Tauranga 

 and Gisborne, a series of time-signals was exchanged be- 

 tween the Observatory and the ship at each of those 

 two ports; and again, when the antarctic exploring ships 

 "Discovery" and "Morning" were in the colony and about 

 to sail south, a succession of exact signals was sent night 

 after night by special wire from the Observatory to the 

 officers' cabin of either vessel as she lay at the wharf at 

 Lyttelton. 



From the magnetic signal which is sent by the clock at 

 9 a.m. each day to the operating-room of the Wellington Tele- 

 graph Office time is repeated by an officer of the Department 

 (using an ordinary Morse instrument) to all the telegraph 

 offices in the colony. This hand-sent signal is not intended 

 for chronometer-rating purposes, and is therefore despatched 

 merely with sufficient accuracy for ordinary office use and for 

 the purpose of enabling all the telegraph and railway clocks 

 in the colony to be set daily to a common time. Practically 



