TODAY'S EXTRACT IS TAKEN FROM THE EDITORIAL PUBLISHED A YEAR AGO, OCTOBER 18, 2003:
AFTER MANY years of decline and disuse, the Half-Way Tree clock tower has been restored by the Bureau of Standards and updated with the latest technology for measuring time - a satellite-centred Global Positioning System. The Roman numerals of the face have been retained, part of the clock's old world charm (it was built in 1913 as a tribute to King Edward VII), but the new face-lift includes a sweeping second hand, no less. Chimes on the hour and half-hour can be set to ring out snatches of Jamaican folk and mento tunes...
Jamaicans are notorious for their lack of punctuality which costs the economy dearly in terms of productive man-hours lost. We have previously commented on this serious flaw in the national psyche, symbolised by a long folk tradition of arranging rendezvous for 'first light under the clock in Half-Way Tree', an hour's difference one way or the other being of little moment.
This cavalier attitude to time has got to change. The Bureau of Standards plans to upgrade five public clocks across the island and the restored Half-Way Tree clock, so prominently positioned and now easy to read, is an important first step in a campaign to get Jamaicans to be more conscious of time. The clock tower itself is also an important architectural landmark, fittingly rejuvenated in collaboration with the Jamaican National Heritage Trust.
