The New Zealand Government Time-Service : an informal history

George Allison Eiby (1918 - 1992) was one of New Zealand's most significant research seismologists of the mid-20th Century. Born in Wellington and educated at Victoria University, he joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) as a cadet in 1939. Other than his war-time service with the air force, he remained working for the DSIR until his retirement in 1979. Eiby's interest in the history of time keeping in New Zealand came through the need for an extremely precise time keeping standard required to accurately plot the position of earthquake epicentres and hypocentres. Eiby championed the development of an advanced earthquake plotting network across the country which was necessary for his seminal research on the earth's mantel and its role in deep-origin earthquakes. As well as his exemplary research skills, his practical skills were formidable; Eiby was himself responsible for a major modification to a locally made clock which increased its accuracy to the level which enabled it to become the 'standard' clock for keeping New Zealand time for over a decade. Though this article is ostensibly about the Government's time keeping service, as the service was based in the capital, it has a strong local-history element in regards to the origins and locations of the timeballs and time-keeping observatories which were once in Wellington.

Wellington City Libraries wishes to thank the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand for allowing us to digitise this article from their publication Southern Stars and to make it available on Wellington City Recollect.