In the past year, the Mean Time clock was cleaned on the 7th May and the Sidereal clock on the 29th of the same month. The Time-ball clock was oiled and the escapement cleaned on the 27th March. The going of all of them subsequently has been satisfactory.
19. The errors of the Time-ball are given in Table I. The ball is not dropped on Sundays nor on Government holidays. There were no failures in 1909. On the 14th July and on October 19th, it was not dropped in consequence of heavy gales, and on October 20th and December 8th because the line was out of order. It was therefore dropped successfully on 296 days. The probable error was in January ± 0.22, in February ± 0.24, in March ± 0.18, in April ± 0.15, in May ± 0.13, in June ± 0.17, in July ± 0.16, in August ± 0.18, in September ± 0.15, in October ± 0.17, in November ± 0.11, and in December ± 0.13.
HONGKONG OBSERVATORY,
25th February, 1910.
F. G. FIGG,
Director.