Determining Latitude and Longitude of Customs Flagstaft On Monday a plate was placed on the wall of the Custom House, close to the entrance door, giving the position of the flagstaff. The inscription reads as follows Position of Custom House Flagstaff Latitude 91° 14" 20" 38 Longitude 121° 29° 00° "02 (Greenwich) Do, (la Time) Bh. 5m. 563, 001
While perhaps this may not appear of outstanding interest to the man in the street, it is a highly important matter to those whose work has to do with the accurate fixing of their pos Hitherto Siccawei_has been the only. point the vicinity of Shanghat in regard) to which accurate observa. tions had been made, and it io of Practical value to have such central point as the' Customs Rage staff. Needless to say the position of the flagstait has been based on the observed position of Siccawei, and the fixing' has been made poo' sible through the observation work undertaken by the Whanpoo Con-few months, rhgee servancy Board during the past
Tu connection with this a note regarding the position of Sieeawel may be made here, Tt has tong been recognized that ax regards latitude the position had been fixed with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes, but at a meet ing of the International Commission on Longitudes. in. Cambridge in 1925 it was decided that more precision in regard. to. longitude was desirable, Three places, near as possible equidistant on the same degree (90) were selected, these being Algiers, Shanghai, and San Diego (California), and Mayet, Director of the Nice Oh: servatory, was sent to Shanghai, to collaborate with the French Fathers here. The result of their observa tions now shows the following poalin respect to Greenwich:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.