Editing Standard time (section)

=== New Zealand ===
{{Main|Time in New Zealand}}

In September 1868, New Zealand was the first country in the world to establish a nationwide standard time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/timekeeping|title=Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Timekeeping|last=Phillips|first=Jock|website=www.teara.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2 November 2018}}</ref>

A [[telegraph]] cable between New Zealand's two main islands became the instigating factor for the establishment of "New Zealand time". In 1868, the Telegraph Department adopted "[[Wellington]] time" as the standard time across all their offices so that opening and closing times could be synchronised. The Post Office, which usually shared the same building, followed suit. However, protests that time was being dictated by one government department, led to a resolution in parliament to establish a standard time for the whole country.

The director of the Geological Survey, [[James Hector]], selected New Zealand time to be at the meridian 172°30′E. This was very close to the country's mean [[longitude]] and exactly 11.5 hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time. It came into effect on 2 November 1868.

For over fifty years, the [[Colonial Time Service Observatory]] in Wellington, determined the correct time each morning. At 9 a.m. each day, it was transmitted by [[Morse code]] to post offices and railway stations around the country. In 1920, radio time signals began broadcasting, greatly increasing the accuracy of the time nationwide.