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office, 227 by the signal lights at the Observatory, 100 by switching off lights on the Harbour Board building'at Auckland, 100 by dropping the time-ball at Lyttelton, and 65 by telephone. No radio time signals were sent on the following dates, owing to — (1) The Wellington Radio Station (VLW), standing by for distress calls : Sunday, 9th May, 1926 ; Friday, 18th February, 1927. (2) Line interruptions between the Wellington Radio Station and the Dominion Observatory : Thursday, 13th May, 1926 ; Friday, 14th May, 1926 ; Monday, 21st. March, 1927. The present programme at the Observatory provides for the following time signals, most of which are sent by the Observatory standard clock, which is usually kept accurate to the nearest second of time Automatic Time Signals :— (1) To the General Post Office, Wellington, by telegraph daily : (2) To ships and to the general public at Wellington, by electric lights at the Observatory, daily, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Government holidays : (3) To the Auckland Harbour Board, by electric lights at Auckland, on Tuesdays and Fridays : (4) To the Lyttelton Harbour Board, by dropping the time-ball at Lyttelton, on Tuesdays and Fridays : (5) To the South Island Telegraph Offices, by telegraph, on Tuesdays and Fridays : (6) Radio time signals through the Wellington Radio Station (VLW), on Tuesday and Friday evenings : (7) Radio time signals through the Wellington Radio Station (VLW) every day at 10.30 a.m. Non-automatic Time Signals : — (1) To ships and watchmakers in Wellington and to the Public Works Department by telephone, on application to the Observatory. (2) The Observatory time signals sent to the General Post Office are distributed by telegraphic hand signals to some 2,300 telegraph and telephone offices distributed all over New Zealand at 9 a.m. daily. (3) Similar hand signals are also sent to all railway offices in New Zealand at 9 a.m. daily by Morse (221) and by telephone (257). (4) The Wellington Telephone Exchange distributes time signals by telephone to exchange subscribers, generally to the nearest minute of time ; the clock in the Exchange is checked by comparing it with the Observatory automatic time signal, but the Observatory is not responsible for the accuracy of these time signals. Government Buildings Clock.—The Government Buildings clock has been kept under fairly close control. A record is obtained at the Observatory by direct circuit from the clock, and the adjusting weights on the pendulum are altered from time to time. Sun-spots. The regular observation of sun-spots has been discontinued. An enlarging camera for photographing the sun-spots has been obtained, and is fitted for use with the City Council's 9 in. equatorial telescope. The camera is available for any particularly interesting groups of sun-spots. International Astronomical Union. By courtesy of the Central Astronomical Bureau, arrangements have been made for this Observatory to receive advice of all important astronomical discoveries. The information is forwarded by the Bureau at Copenhagen to this Observatory through the Melbourne Observatory. The following information was received in this way during the calendar year 1926 :— (1) Discovery of comet Blathwayt, magnitude ll'O, on 16th January, and observation of comet Blathwayt by Jeflers, 20th January. (2) Elements and ephemeris of comet Ensor by C. J. Merfield. (3) Ephemeris of comet van Biesbroeck. (4) Position of comet Finlay, of magnitude 11-5, 3rd August. (5) Observation of comet Giacobini by Schwassmann on 16th October, and ephemeris of comet Giacobini. (6) Discovery of comet Comas Solas, of magnitude 12'0, on 4th November, and ephemeris. (7) Observation of comet Neujmin on. sth November, by Neujmin. A number of these objects were observed throughout New Zealand, and reports of the observed positions were sent to the Observatory. " New Zealand Nautical Almanac." An article on the Dominion time service arrangements, giving full particulars of all the time signals supplied by the Observatory, was prepared for and published in the " New Zealand Nautical Almanac." International Longitude Determinations. At the meeting of the International Astronomical Union held at Cambridge in July, 1925, it was decided, on the initiative of General Ferrie, to carry out a series of longitude determinations in October and November, 1926. About fifty Observatories throughout the world took part. At Wellington, special series of observations for time were made with a small reversible transit which is fitted with a hand-driven self-registering micrometer. Observations with this instrument were procured on seven nights and one morning. In addition, observations for time were also made on the almucantar

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