T I Nswsv

- NOTES

3) J. A. Cllrb. D30. CALENDARS

In turning the radio dial on Friday evening. January 'ltii, we heard Christmas music. and in a short time were informed that it came from a Mennonit Church who still use the Julian Calendar for' recording time, and by that gyrtem it was Christmas Day, De- cember zstii, 1954.

our English word calendar comes from the Roman word Caiends or Kalends, the name of the first day of the Roman month. '1'lie standard Dictionary describes calendar as: "A lvlfem of fixing the order,.length and b-divisions of years and months a as to de- iine the dates, of events."

EARLY CALENDARS

Sir HT 5. Jones, Britain's As- tronomer Royal. speaking last De- cember in New York, stated: "Na- ture provides us with three na- tural periods of time, the day, the month. and the year, which de- pends respectively on the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. These mree periods are not commensur- abie with each other. and that was why the early attempts to pro- vide a calendar proved to be un- satisfactory. and why. in the course of centuries, so many dif- ferent calendars have been devis-

The T Encyclopaedia Brlttanlca under the heading of "Calendar" has 15 full pages or information. data and calculations comparing a number of calendars. ancient and modern. From these and in- formation in other encyclopedias. we find that the writers consider tiie solar day by the most in- portant division of time. The sub- divisions of the' day in 24 parts or hours has prevailed since the rcmotest ages. The solar year. which completes the cycle of the srasons, as worked out by modern astronomy, has ,a length of 865 days 5 iiours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds,

Many nations of antiquity reck- oned time by the month and the phases of the moonpfrom new moon to new moon gave a lunar month of 20 1-2 days. They call- ed 12 lunar months a year of 354 days. 1t'was found that in this rough approximation of the true length or a year, the seasons. over a period of years; did not occur in the some months. and that it was necessary to make some ad- Justments to prevent the seasons from gradually making a round of the whole year.

The ancient Egyptians tried for years to combine the lunar month into the solar year without success. and they adopted a stellar calen- dar, based on- the annual arrival of Sirius. a star that reappeared every year at almost the same time as the rising of the Nli an event upon which the '

turai production of the nati ' e-

pended. This was a great ad in the making of a better

1-as . V -'

Kirk AuiiIIiery

The Annual Meeting of the Ladies Auxiliary of St. James Presbyterian Chusjch was held on January llth. i?,the Upper Hall with the Presid at. Mrs. Donald Campbell. in the chair

The meeting was called to order. following which the Lord's prayer has repeated in unison. Minute: of the Decembe monthly meeting and or the last Annual Meeting were read by the Secretary and approved as read.

The President t en gave. a comprehensive and detailed re- port of the work carried on by the Auxiliary during the year 1954, following which the Trea- surer's Report was read, also re- ports of the various committees.

The report of the Nominating Committee headed by Mrs. E. G. Saunders was then brought in and following are the ladies who wlli' hold office for the present year: I-ionourary President Mrs. T. H. B. somers; President. Mrs. C. W. MacArthur; lst;. Vice-President, Mrs. J. Harold Shaw; and, Vice- Pi-csidcnt Miss Hilda Harper; 3i-d.. Vicc-Pruldent. Mrs.: Albert Roop; secretary, Mrs. Wendell H. Worth: Treasurer, Mrs. J. B. Larkln. and Corresponding secretary. Mrs. Arthur Bruce.

A vote of thanks to the retiring officers was presented by Miss Mary Irving. following which the new President took the Chair. At- ter a short business meeting at which plans were made for the Annual Congregational Meeting to be held on Monday evening, January 17th. the meeting. on mo- tion of Mrs. Gordon White, was

dsr. The Egyptians; sometime be- tween f230 and 3251 BC, adopted a seasonal sun-calendar of 365 days, which was the only calen- dar before the Julian of 46 B. C., in which the lengths of each month and each year were fixed by definite rules, and not left to the whims of officials. It is also recorded that Ptolemy In in 23: B. 0.. issued a decree providing for a. day being added every four years. This, however. was not generally adopted because its use was opposed by the priesthood. The week of seven days has no connection whatever with celes- tial motions, The English names for .the days of the week are de- rived from the Saxons. who bor- rowed the week from some ancient Eastern nation. The week did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was only introduced at Rome in the reign oi Theodos- us.

JULIAN CALENDAR.

When Julius Caesar became Dic- tater, the spring Roman festivals occurred in nominal summer months. To clear up this confusion. Caesar secured an Egyptian as- tronomer, Sosigenes. and under- took a thorough reiorm oi the calendar. He made the year 48 B. C., the "year oi confusion". to consist of 445 days. and the years that followed, 365 days, with the exception oi every fourth which was to. be 366 days. He changed the number of days in the months to 31 and 30 alternately. with the exception oi February, which had 29. and 30 days in leap year. In his own honour. he changed the name oi the month following June to July.

The Roman authorities made the mistake oi adding a leap year every third year. so that by 8 B. C., they had three leap years too many; Augustus Caesar then ordained a 12-year period with out a leap year. so that 4 A. D. became the next leap year. Augustus also gave his own name to the month following July, and added another day to it that he took from Feb- ruary.

The Julian Calendar considered that the solar year was 305 1-4 days, whereas the year is 11 min- utes and 14 seconds less, This annual error accumulated until 1582. when the vernal equinox oc- curred March 11th. ten days earlier than it did in 325 A; 1)., the time of the Council of Nice. The Julian calendar has been con- tinued by modern Greece. the U. S. S. R... and some other countries. It is now 13 days in error. so that Did Christmas now comes on January 1th in each year.

.111! GEEGOBIAN CALENDAR.

y The Gregorian Calendar is the one now as use in most or the na- tions. Pope Gregory III published -& bull. dated March lst, 1582. an- nuiiing 10 days from the Julian calendar. so that the 5th of oc- tober became the 15th of Oc- tober. 1500. In order to prevent error, he ordained that the cen- tury year 1000 A. D.. should be a leap year and, 1700. 1800 and 1000 should be common years. but 2000. and centuries that could be divided by 400 would be leap years, and so on. He also changed the first of the year from March 25th to January let.

The Gregorian Calendar. or New Style as it was known, was adopted according to the mandate of the Pope in Spain. Portugal and parts oi Italy in 1582 AD.: and by France and the Low Countries in December oi that year. by making December 15th the 25th. It was adopted generally in Catholic Eu- rope by the end oi' the 10th cen- tury. Scotland changed to the Gregorian Calendar on New Year's Day, 1600 A.D.: but it was not adopted by the British Common- wealth until Beptember 8rd, 1752, which day was reckoned as sep- tember 14th. to cancel the 11 days' difference then between the old and the new system. They further changed the beginning of the new year from March 25th to January 1st, 1758.

With all these changes. the Gregorian Calendar still has an error in computing time. in that it indicates the solar year as 365 zlaysf 5 hours. 49 minutes and 12 seconds. or a. difference oi 26 seconds more than that worked out by recent astronomers. To cor- rect this. a day should be dropped every 3,320 years. It has been sug- gested that this be done by making the year 4,000 and multiples of 4,000 common years of 365 days.

adjourned.

OUR

'W "I MEAN AMOS

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" Aunt MARTHA AWAY Fussme

Christmas At The P. E I, Orphanage

The generosity of surge num- ber oi citizens and the eager antici- pation with which children look ioi-ward ioithis annual event, com- bined to make the Christmas holi- day season in 1954 a happy one indeed.

Commencing early in December. the children were guests oi the Lone Guiders at a party held in Central Royalty hall.

The Trinity Guide Party with Santa. Claus in attendance. follow- ed a short time later.

Santa Claus appeared again on December 17th. This time his visit was arranged by R. T. Holman, Ltd.. and the jolly old fellow had candy and apples in abundance to pass around.

On December 20th the children presented their annual Chrstmas concert in the Orphanage auditor- ium. lt was well attended by a. large and appreciative audience.

Two enjoyable events at Trinity United Church were the Brownie party and the Sunday School Con- cert. both of which were much en- joyed by our children.

Through the kind co-operatisi oi Duke Neiison, Santa again visited the Orphanage on December 22nd entertaining the children and distri- buting treats.

The Odd Fellows and Rebeccaa arranged for the children to have supper at the I. 0.' O. F. Hall on December 22nd. After eating there was a concert during which gifts were distributed. Later on the child- ren were taken around the City by car to see the illuminated decora- tions.

Another happy occasion was a re-union at the Y. M. C. A. for all campers and this included several

camp.

A number oi Orphanage child- ren visited Sunset Lodge on Dec- ember 23rd and helped to enter- tain the ladies living there.

The Royal Arch Masons visited the Orphanage on Christmas day. Santa Claus and many of his help- ers accompanied them. Gifts. candy and fruit were presented to each child. This Christmas day visit is an annual event which the child- ren look forward to eagerly.

Six boys were guests oi'.Mr. L. A. Brock for a dinner followed by a picture show. which concluded the holiday activities.

The Trustees gratefully acknow- ledge the wntributions listed be- low.

Anonymous (This amount was a

cash gift for each child) 3100.00 Order Eastern Star . 50.00 Prince Edward Preceptory 5.00 Est. of George J. Rogers 50.00

Est. oi Julia Parsons O'Connell Picnic Fund . . , . . . . .. 39. 5 United Packing House Workers oi America 30.00 Andy's Ses,Foods, summerside Canadian Legion . 25.00 Mrs. A. M. Warn. Seattle, Wash. Formerly Sadie Bell, Milton ., 25.00 Mr. and Mrs. John D. Abney. Hills- boro. Texas . 10.

Mrs. H. 5. Henderson . 10.00 Lodge 218 Brotherhood Maintenance of Way Emps. 10.00

Dr. W. J. P. MacMlIlan 5.00 Mrs. A. V. Saunders 5.00 Whitlock's Tire Service 5.00 Spring Brook W. I. . 5.00 Tryon W. I. . 5.00 Borden W. I. . 5.00 Craspereaux W. I. . 5.00 P. D. Crosby. St. Eleanora . 3.00 Lorne Finlay . .. 3.00 T. E. MacNutt . 2.00 Mrs. E. E. Smaliwood . 2.00 Mrs. W. 0. Bruce .. 2.00 Miss Etta Coles 2.00 W. G. Brawders 1.00

Gifts in Kind: Princess Mary, Crapaud; Rena Macl..ean,' Hunter; Gueen Mary.

Kingston; Good Hope. Lot 10; Lady Argle. Argyle Shore; Ruth Whit- lock. and Mrs. Isabel Wood, Hunter River; Mrs: Hiram Harrington, Kensington; Esben Arnfaat. city: Dennis Neale, Winsloe: Mrs. James H. Bell. Cape Traverse: Mrs. Basil Kelly. City; Mrs. Sterling Wood. Mt. Herbert; Ina. M. Sutherland. City; Jessie G. Murphy, Kensington: Mrs. Dingwell Macl"adyen. City; A Friend, City; Moore as MacLeod, Ltd.. Mrs. Cyrus Pickard, Candy Group Willing Circle King's Daugh- ters, Mrs. J. L. Lockhart, City; Mrs. Horace MICEWEXI, City: Dc- Blois Bros., Ltd.. City: Mrs. N. A. Shaw, City; Mrs. Harry E. Miller. City; Mrs. George Cooper. city: Rogers Hardware Co.. Ltd.. Mrs. Jean Dewar, City; Clarke Fruit Co.. Ltd.. Mrs. Louis B. Hunt, City; Miss Janie Acorn, City: Mrs. J S. Moore. City; Mrs. J. Pope Clark, City; Central Creameries, Ltd.. At-

MAJOR HOOPLE

-w AND YOUR

oi our children who had attended V

I Timely Notes on 1 Silver Fox and

There is always something new turning up. This is certainly the age of discovery and the latest is a new "fur on fabric" process which It is claimed can bring a- bout mass production of fur gar- menis. slash labor costs and re- duce the weight of furs up to 90 per cent. James J. Axeirod, a man ,who has made great studies of the textile field. is backing the pro- cess which has been in the testing s II? for the past year. He is president of Airedale W o r s to d Mills, Inc. The process he disclos- .ed involves the removal oi the hairs of a raw fur pelt from the leather and transplaniation'on a fabric base. Ultimately Mr. Axel- rod envisions production of "fur on fabric" in bolts for mass pro- duction use by gar ent manu- facturers. ”At some ime in the future," Mr. Axelrod said ”we hope to sell mink by the yard in. stead of the skin." In back up his 5t5t9m9"t 119 dI5P18)'Bd samples of the new product in such furs as rabbit, weasel. persian lamb, musk- rat and chinchilla. Limited com- mercial productlon is about six months off and machinery is now 1391111 constructed to facilitate in- itial commercial production. The process is said to be rapid and cheap less than the cost of dressing fur pelts. It will cut the Wellht oi furs two-thirds to nine- tenths by complete elimination of the leather portion A transplanta- tion to a fabric base holds the fur hairs as tightly in place it gist more so. than the original lea- er.

Sam Gottesfeld. one of the fea. ture writers for Women's wear Daily. estimates that by the end or last month well over 700,000 stand. srd ranch and mutation mink were

:.

lantic Wholesalers. Ltd.. Mabel Mr-theson. City; Edith MacPherson. All-iton. Mass; Carvell Bros.. Ltd.. Life Underwriters Association, Joyce stetson. Brookfleld; Douglag 31-05, as Jones; Mr. Douglas, New G133- Stetson. Brookfieid; Douglas Bros. Pmwse Bros. Ltd.; Ann Gillespie, 30"”-55 Huxhes Drug Co.. Ltd.. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison Macxlnnon. George H. Toambs 85 Son. Tom Roam. city; we w. 1". MacLean. R. C. A. F. Station. Summerside. United Church Montague, Mr. and M11 ROY Spokes. Michigan; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Benz, Florida; Mary Shea Connolly. City; Mrs. J, 1., on-, French River; Charlottetown Cen- tenhial committee; Canadian Leg. Ion. Summerslde; Foodcraft Lab. Ltd.. Toronto; R. C. A. F. Station. Summerslde; Mrs. Bert Willis, Clyde River; Robert Brown. Pawn- II: Prince Edward Preceptory No, 25: Mrs. Fred H. Beaton. Belle. River, Mrs. James Cudmore, North Wlnsloe; Mrs. Mary McClure. Mur- My Harbour; Helen McLean, South Lake: Mrs. Gerald Johnston. Peters

00 Road: Ladies Orange Association.

T-Ot 15: Mrs. Frank Myers. Crap- aud. Prince Edward Island Precep- tory No. 35: I. 0. O. F.; Vocational School; R. C. M. P., City; Joseph shlmli Agnew Surpass Shoe Co.: Bevin Bros; The Brighton 3 Club: Mm -Blunders. Southport: st. Paul's Sunday school: Blind Institution: Y. M. C. A.: Mrs. Rodd. City: Can- adian Lesion. City; Potato Grow- er's Association; Sterns Ltd.: Wil- liam Murchison; Kinsmen, Summer- side: Ladies L. O. B. A., Lot 10.

Following Institutes:

Chen"! Valley. New London, Central Lot 16. hrsckley Point. Damley. sturgeon. North Bedeque, Cape Wolfe.-.. Reads Corner. Sher- brooke. Fortune Bridge. Brackley Point (2) Lakevlew, O'Leary, Mount Royal. South Granville, Gaspereaux. Crspaud, Enmore. Alaska. Hazel Grove. White Sands, Parkdale. Belle River. Covehead Road. Argyle Shore. Eldon, Malpeque, Eamsclifie. Springfield, Orwell Cove Fairview, Rivcrdale & Churchill, Avonlea. Ringwood. Bayview. Flat River. Har- rington, Fredericton, Pleasant val- lcy, Wood Island West. Spring Val-

ion. Queen Mary. Murray Harbour, Little Pond. Bhamrock. Peters Road, Murray River, Clyde River.

ley. Murray Harbour North, Alb-'

Mink Farming

marketed in the United States and Canada at prices well over those of the comparable period oi the year ago. This is an estimated 20 per cent of the combined United States and Canadian ranch raised mink crop for the 1054-55 season. Canadian auction companies have offered at least 300.000 pelts which would be about 40 per cent of the estimated crop oi 758.000 for the Dominion. By the end oi the year American auction houses will have offered almost 430,000 pelts. This would be about 15 per cent of the estimated production of 2,800,000 ranch and mutation mink, Turn- over oi auction house offerings has been remarkably high, running well over 90 per cent all month; thus a good 700.000 pelts have been absorbed by the trade to date. Stndard ranch mink and mutations except plaiinums and whites have all been considerably stronger than last December levels both in the United States and Canada. Plat- mums have generaly been around 5 per cent easier and whites have been at least 20 per cent below a year ago.

Among the quantities offered at the Hudson's Bay Company's sale held in London last Tuesday we note 5.000 fresh Canadian mink. ll0,000 Canadian squirrel, 6,000 silver fox, 4.000 blue fox and 500 platina fox. We will be looking for- ward with considerable interest to see how these goods are received by the fur trade in the largest city in the world.

Canadian Mink Bi-eeders' Asso- ciation has decided to take part in Canadian Government exhibits at the Milan and Paris Fairs this com- 105 year by Way oi promotion in Europe. At the CMB executive meeting held in Montreal it was agreed that Norman W. Shields, executive secretary. is to visit Eu- rope next Spring to make the rounds of the principal fur de- signers and manufacturing mar- kets. Garmenis and dressed pelts will be shown by CMB at the Milan Fair April 21 to 27 and at the Foire de Paris May 14 to 30.

While the loss is not likely to affect the fur market. the floods which followed Hurricane Hazel have wiped out the livelihood of large mink ranchers near liewmar- ket. north of Toronto. An estimat- ed S50,000 worth of animals drown- cd or died of pneumonia duing the flood. There is no estimate of the replacement cost of building equip- ment which were ripped from their moorings and damaged beyond re- pair. A fund has been established and an effort is being made to replace a part of the breeding stock loss.

Studies of the fundamental nutri- tional requirements of mink have been in process at the University of Wisconsin since 1946., Data from these studies will be the basis for future advance in principal mink nutrition. One of the goals oi this research program is to bring great- cr economy to mink feeding pro- cesses. Two of the experiments in progress are (1) A study of the use of mid-western fresh w ate r fish in mink diets, and (2) a study on the use of lard in mink dict. Domestic fresh water fish .havc been used on mink ranches for many years. Such fish as carp, sheephead, burbot. woolheads and chubs are being used in many ranphes in Wisconsin. These fish are cheap and the supply of the above varieties is extensive. yet many ranchers are prejudiced against fresh water fish. They would like to use them in their diets but are not sure that the result they will get will be equal to those found with whiting (ocean whiting) iii the diet. There is no question of the economic advantage of these fresh water fish ovcr ocean fish - the coat is cheaper and there are no long distance shipping charges.

In Memoriam

some DUNCAN swrnssox

The many friends oi Mr. John Duncan Mstheson in the com- munity of Rose Valley and else- where throughout ths Provinu, along with the many friends he had made in Sununerside dur- ing his stay there. were saddened and grieved when they learned of hts death on the morning of De- cember llth.

The late Mr. Msthuon who was in his 10th year, passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Arthur Newson, sumnierslde East. after a trying illness. borne with Christian patience and courage.

On 'August 20th. Mr. Mathesol: leit- his life long community and home which he loved so well and entered the Prince County Hospi- tal where he underwent an oper- ation on September 2nd., which proved to be serious. l