A-30 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



then- i»r()tessi()ii. Will vdu kindly, theivlbiv. |)l:n'i' the questions before 

 masters with whom you may come in eontaet during the next few 

 weeks, and ask their signatures to the inclosed form, that I ma}^ cor- 

 rectly express their feelings on the subject, and oblige. 



" I am, yours faithfully, 



(Signed) " W. X. CtREEnwood." 



'•Questions put to Shipmasters. 



•• Please give an answer ' Yes ' or ' No,' signing your name, with the 

 name of your vessel and her employment, foreign or home trade, to the 

 four following questions : 



•' 1. Are you in favour of the Greenwich Meridian being universally 

 recognized as the Prime or First Meridian by all maritime nations ? 



'' 2. Are you in favour of the Unification of Time as reckoned from 

 such Prime Meridian and extended to all nations irrespectively ? 



"3. Are you in favour of the Unification of Time as applied to the 

 Civil, Nautical and Astronomical Days, and is it desirable in the inter- 

 ests of all concerned that such days should commence at Mean Mid- 

 night ? 



■• 4. Are you in favour of reckoning the days by the twenty-four 

 hours system, counting the hours for each Civil, Nautical and Astro- 

 nomical Day from Mean Midnight throughout the twenty-four hours to 

 midnight again ? This will do away with the old a. m. and p. m., but 

 will make Mean Noon the twelfth hour for all three systems of time- 

 reckoning alike.' 



Answers to Questions. 



The above circular letter and query form were distributed through- 

 out the larger seaports of the United Kingdom in July and August last. 

 The replies received may be considered fairly representative of the general 

 opinion of shi])masters on the questions at issue. 



Of the 243 individual replies received, the yeas are 237, 234, 233 

 and 223 ; and the nays, 5, 3, 7 and 19 ; with 1. 1,3, and 1, questionable 

 or doubtful answers to the queries 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Subdi- 

 vided the replies stand as follows : — 



Out of 111 British steam shipmasters in active service and repre- 

 senting 18(5,252 gross tons of shipping, the yeas are 110, 108, 106 and 

 201 ; and the nays 1, 3, 3, and 10 to the four questions in theii- order, 

 whilst to question 3, two have no answer to give. 



Of the thirty-two British sailing shipmasters, the reply is in the 

 affirmative to all the four questions excepting one dissentient to No. 4 ; 

 they represent 36.467 gross tons of our mercantile marine. Fourteen 

 masters employed in our home coasting trade have also signed all in the 

 affirmative; they represent a shipping tonnage of 1,676 gross tons. In 



