154 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The following letter from the Commander of R. M. S. Empress 

 of Ireland shows the practicability and usefulness of this service: 



" Canadian Pacific Railway Company, 

 Atlantic Steamship Lines, 

 R. M. S. Empress OF Ireland, 

 25th April, 1908. 

 D. L. Hutchinson, 



Director, St. John Observatory. 



'Dear Sir, 



I am pleased to be able to report to you that, on the 23rd 

 inst., while on a voyage from Liverpool to St. John, N.B., via Halifax, 

 I was able to pick up the wireless time signal at a distance of 160 miles 

 south-east of Halifax. 



The signal was very distinct, and the method of sending the time 

 is a very practical one for checking a ship's chronometers. 



Yours faithfully, 



J. V. FoRSTER, Commander, 



per H. L. Wait, Navigating Officer." 



Future developments in wireless telegraphy may eventually so 

 overcome local disturbances that, by the Hertzian waves, time sig- 

 nals may be transmitted to ships at sea in all parts of the world and 

 disasters, through miscalculation of longitude, be impossible. 



