Calendar Reform

Honolulu Mon Produces a Practicable Plan

npHE present World Calendar, under X which the year’s 365 days are divided into 12 months, with an unequal number of days in each, has many faults and causes much confusion.

Its worst fault, perhaps, is that we do not know, from year to year, upon what day particular dates will fall.

The simplest method would be to have 13 months of 28 days each, and one odd day, to be specially provided for. But this would introduce new confusion by making the four “quarters” impractic able.

The Edwards Perpetual Calendar, the invention of an American, now receiving considerable attention in the world, gets over most of the difficulties of the pre sent Calendar, and introduces no new ones. The week begins on Monday; anniversaries and holidays always fall on the same day of the week; and the year has equal quarters of 91 days each. In older that the year may include 365 days, New Year’s Day is made an international holiday, a day apart from any month or week.

The first two months of each quarter have 30 days, and the third month has 31 days. The first month of each quar ter starts on Monday, the second month on Wednesday, and the third month on Friday. Its month-lengths thus fall into the rhythmical pattern of 30-30-31, and the starting-days of each month into the well-known sequence of Monday-Wed nesday-Friday. Each of the twelve months has 26 working-days and Friday the-13th never occurs.

A period of international action and agreement, for the removal of many irregularities and absurdities, is close at hand. This new Calendar points the way to one reform, urgently needed and hun dreds of years overdue. Copies of the pamphlet may be obtained from Mr. W.

E. Edwards, Beach Walk Inn, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Captain Peter Theet, who was for many years connected with the Pacific Phosphate Company on Ocean Island, and manager on Nauru from 1906 to 1913, and who was well known to many old timers of the Pacific, celebrated his 90th birthday at Oratia, in New Zealand, on June 19.

An educated Euronesian lad, who escaped from Rabaul many months after the Japanese invasion, and reached the Australians, reports that, in the early part of 1942, civilian prisoners were kept at two camps—one on the Malaguna Road, and one in the W. R. Carpenter native labour compound at Toboi, At the former camp he saw two men whom he knew— Mr. Harold Page (Government Secretary), and Mr. A. Schmidt (master of the native school). He was asked if he had seen Mr. P. Coote (Burns, Philp manager), whom he knew; but he replied, “I did not see Mr. Coote, and I know nothing about him.”