Part 11 (2/2)

24,788

1881 ..

4,418

3,640

1,273

2,694

3,406

1,160

996

17,587

1882 ..

7,454

5,656

1,716

2,569

4,245

115

1,197

22,952

1888 ..

5,592

7,882

6,174

2,607

6,280

2,368

2,158

32,961

1884

(1st

quar.)

1,367

2,261

2,942

908

2,186

429

677

10,670

+-------+------+-------+------+-------+-------+--------+-------+

35,741

39,679

23,867

14,440

52,930

4,591

6,544

177,795

+-------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+-------+--------+-------+

But the chart resources of the British Admiralty, great as they are, do not suffice to meet the requirements of the smaller cla.s.s s.h.i.+ps of the mercantile marine of Great Britain. There are three commercial firms in London who publish special charts, based, however, on admiralty doc.u.ments, to satisfy this demand. On inquiry I found that these firms publish 640 charts, which, from their large size, require about 930 copper plates. I am not able to furnish the number of charts sold by these firms, but it is large.

Supplementary to the Admiralty Charts, there are 51 volumes of Sailing Directions. Several of these volumes exceed 500 pages, and have pa.s.sed through several editions. Private commercial firms also, in addition to their charts, publish directions for many parts of the globe. These include regions with which the Admiralty have not yet, notwithstanding great diligence, been able to deal.

The annual sales of nautical almanacs for the past seven years have been:

1877................................18,439 1878................................16,408 1879................................16,290 1880................................14,561 1881................................15,870 1882................................15,071 1883................................15,535

I think, sir, that these are salient points, which will a.s.sist the Conference in coming to a clearer view of the great interest which navigation and commerce have in the charts of a particular country.

The question was then put on the adoption of the resolution offered by the Delegate of the United States, Mr. RUTHERFURD, as follows:

”That the Conference proposes to the Governments here represented the adoption of the meridian pa.s.sing through the transit instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich as the initial meridian for longitude.”

The roll was called, and the different States voted as follows:

In the affirmative--

Austria, Mexico, Chili, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Columbia, Russia, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden, Guatemala, Switzerland, Hawaii, Turkey, Italy, Venezuela, j.a.pan, United States.

Liberia,

In the negative--

San Domingo.

Abstaining from voting--

Brazil, France.

The result was then announced, as follows:

Ayes, 21; noes, 1; abstaining from voting, 2.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the resolution was pa.s.sed.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia. In the name of the Delegates for Russia I have now, at this point of the discussion, to say a few words.

If we had to consider the scientific side alone of the questions, which have already been discussed and resolved by the prominent scientists of the different countries at the General Conference of the International Geodetical a.s.sociation at Rome, in 1883, we might as well simply adhere to the resolutions of the Roman Conference, and limit our work to the shaping of these resolutions into the form of a draft of an international convention, to be submitted for approbation to our respective Governments. But, as we have, besides, to consider the application of the intended reform to practical life, we beg to submit the following suggestions to the kind attention of the Conference.

It is important to find for the more densely populated countries the simplest mode possible of transition from local to universal time, and _vice versa_; and we believe, therefore, that it would be convenient for the practical purposes of the question to adopt for the beginning of the universal day the midnight of Greenwich, and not the noon, as was deemed advisable by the Conference of Rome.

This modification would offer for the whole of Europe and for the greatest part of America the advantage of avoiding the double date in local and universal time during the princ.i.p.al business hours of the day, and would afford great facilities in the transition from local time to universal.

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