PROCEEDINGS— APPENDIX A A -43 



APPENDIX VI. 



Letter to the Gooernor-General from the Canadian Institute and the 

 Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto, submitting additional 

 list of shipmasters for or against unification. 



Toronto, April 23rd, 1896. 

 To the Secretary of His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada. 



Sir, — We have the honour, on behalf of the Canadian Institute and 

 of the Astrononiieal and Physical Society of Toronto, in continuation of 

 our communication of the 9th instant, again to address His Excellency. 



A recent mail has bi"Ought further evidence which may prove viseful 

 to the scientific advisers of Her Majesty's Clovemment in considering the 

 advisability of carrying into etiect the recommendation contained in the 

 sixth resolution of the Washington International Conference of 1884. 



Mr. W. X. Greenwood, of Glasson Dock, Lancaster, England, writes, 

 under date Api'il 8th, 1896, as follows on the subject of reform in time- 

 reckoning at sea : " I inclose the names of a few more good represent- 

 " ative adherents, from a nautical point of view. You will see amongst 

 '* them a fair proportion of colonial shipmasters, also foreign masters, 

 " but the bulk are captains of our large 'tramp' steamers, and their 

 " opinions are, I think, the most valuable; a hard-worked class of men, 

 " they know what it is to economize time, and the practical necessity of 

 " minimizing the chances of making mistakes, particularly in time, nau- 

 " tically applied to longitude. . . I can get the signatui'es of any 

 " number of coasting masters, but do not, as a rule, ask for them ; those 

 " I give ai"e voluntary and from their own choice. Foreign masters give 

 '• in their adhesion very readily. 



•• r notice that the official United States tide-tables for 1896 appear 

 in the 2-l:-hour notation." 



The following is a summary of the additional list of shipmasters who 

 reply in the affirmative to the question, "Are you in favour of the uni- 

 " fication of time as applied to the civil, nautical and astronomical days ; 

 " and is it desirable, in the interests of all concerned, that such days 

 " should commence at mean midnight ? " : 



British steamships iu the foreign trade 27 yeas, nays. 



British steamships in the home trade 14 " " 



British sailing-ships in the foreign trade 17 " " 



British sailing-ships in the home trade 7 " " 



Foreign sailing-ships 6 '' " 



Shipmasters not following their profession. 3 " '• 



