New Zealand

Time signals in New Zealand ranged from the 1864 time ball at Wellington to time lights at Wellington and Auckland that were withdrawn in 1937. The Wellington time ball was relocated in 1888 following a long period of harbour development and burned down in 1909, to be superseded by time lights in 1912. Various unsuccessful attempts were made to establish a reliable time ball service at Auckland. A final, short-lived time ball was replaced by time lights in 1915. The first time ball service in South Island was established in 1867 at Port Chalmers, using local observatory facilities up to 1877. It was then re-established in 1882 as a weekly service with regulation from Wellington until its withdrawal in 1909. The 1876 time ball at Lyttelton became the principal signal in South Island and was in service until 1934. It was regulated by telegraph from Wellington, so did not require a nearby observatory.