Abstract
IT has been announced that the British Broadcasting Corporation will adopt at an early date the 24-hour system of expressing time. The system will be used in announcements over the microphone, in the journals issued by it and in correspondence. This decision by the B.B.C. will provide the best possible opportunity of testing whether the general public is in favour of or is opposed to the 24-hour system. Though the adoption of the 24-hour system has been widely supported by transport organisations (rail, road and air), by engineers, by the mercantile marine and in scientific circles, the Government has taken the view that there is no very strong demand for the change and that it would be wrong to impose upon the public a system of notation which might confuse rather than assist. As was announced in NATURE last week (p. 354), the Postmaster-General has stated that he proposes to await the result of the B.B.C. experiment before coming to a decision. It was apparently with the same desire to see what measure of support or opposition from the general public was indicated that the House of Lords on March 1 negatived a motion introduced by Lord Lamington urging that the 24-hour system should be put into operation as soon as possible, though the House on December 7, 193£, had approved a motion for the adoption of the system.
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24-Hour Time System. Nature 133, 408 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133408a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133408a0