10 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



one of 2 Jib., which buried itself 6in. deep. The furthest 

 pieces were six miles apart ; and the luminous passage of the 

 meteor, which was very brilliant in spite of bright sunlight, 

 was seen by many observers. A very bright meteor was seen 

 on October 1st, 1917, over an area extending from the N. of 

 England to Somerset, and others on September 23rd, and 

 other September dates, October 18th, and October 23rd. 

 The standard time in New Zealand has hitherto been 11 

 hours in advance of Greenwich time ; but it has now been 

 decided, in order to bring it into uniformity with international 

 arrangements, that it shall be exactly 12 hours in advance 

 of G.M.T. In timekeeping at sea, the practice has been to 

 alter the clock whenever an observation chances to be made, 

 which led to much uncertainty. It has now been settled 

 that the time should be altered regularly on passing a meridian 

 the time on which differed by an integral number of hour.s 

 from Gieenwich time. The great telescope at Mount Wilson, 

 which is nearly ready for use, has a mirror 101. 2in. in diameter, 

 and is expected to render visible 300,000,000 stars. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Weather conditions for 1917, taking the results of the whole 

 year, were not very different from the normal, the mean 

 temperature at Greenwich, 49 degrees, being only half a 

 degree less than the average, and the rainfall, 25. 3in., being 

 1.5in. more than the average amount. Snow fell at Greenwich 

 on no less than 51 da^s, of w^hich 16 were in January. The 

 fall, as measured in my rain gauge at Montevideo, Chickerell, 

 was 22.92in., nearly 7 inches below the average for 18 years 

 (29.63in.), the months of January, February, November, and 

 December producing a total fall of only 4.87in., an amount 

 which is often exceeded in one of these months alone. Some 

 other parts of the British Isles, especially the East Midlands 

 of Scotland, had a dry year. The winter of 1916-17 was, as 

 will be remembered, exceptionally long and cold, whereas 

 last winter was distinctly mild. August was unusually 



