This does not result in doing away with time differences altogether--that would, of course, be impossible in the nature of things--but for the complicated odd differences in hours and minutes, we have substituted the infinitely simpler series of differences in even hours. The traveller from Chicago to New York can reset his watch by putting it just one hour later on his arrival--the minute hand is kept unchanged, and no New York timepiece need be consulted to set the watch right on arriving. There can be no doubt that this standard-time system must be considered one of the most important contributions of astronomical science to the convenience of man. Its value has received the widest recognition, and its use has now extended to almost all civilized countries--France is the only nation of importance still remaining outside the time-zone system. In the following table we give the standard time of the various parts of the earth as compared with Greenwich, together with the date of adopting the new time system. It will be noticed that in certain cases even half-hours have been employed to separate the time-zones, instead of even hours as used in the United States. TABLE OF THE WORLD'S TIME STANDARDS ----------------+---------------------++------------------ When it is Noon | || Date of Adopting at Greenwich | In || Standard Time it is | || System. ----------------+---------------------++------------------ Noon | Great Britain. || | Belgium. || May, 1892. | Holland. || May, 1892. | Spain. || January, 1901. 1 P.M. | Germany. || April, 1893. | Italy. || November, 1893. | Denmark. || January, 1894. | Switzerland. || June, 1894. | Norway. || January, 1895. | Austria (railways). || 1.30 P.M. | Cape Colony. || 1892. | Orange River Colony.|| 1892. | Transvaal. || 1892. 2 P.M. | Natal. || September, 1895. | Turkey (railways). || | Egypt. || October, 1900. 8 P.M. | West Australia. || February, 1895. 9 P.M. | Japan. || 1896. 9.30 P.M. | South Australia. || May, 1899. 10 P.M. | Victoria. || February, 1895. | New South Wales. || February, 1895. | Queensland. || February, 1895. 11 P.M. | New Zealand. || ----------------+---------------------++------------------