-> The library checked their very own references, and ceremoniously  
-> re-orientated the device to huge sighs of relief, allowing  
-> Sprott's watch to agree better with the dial's shadow while the  
-> defeated prof slipped quietly overseas to some very obscure  
-> conference. 
  
A further thought... 
  
If the dial was designed for Britain, i.e. a latitude of about 50 deg. 
N, and Auckland is about 90 degrees south of that, it would be possible 
to make the dial work there, not by rotating it in a horizontal plane, 
but by mounting it on a north-facing vertical wall, with the 12 o'clock 
line pointing downward. Its orientation would then be the same as it 
would be if mounted on a horizontal surface in Britain, so it would 
work fine. The numbers would be upside-down, though. 
  
I'm assuming that it was a dial of the common kind, with a "gnomon" - a 
rod that is aligned to be parallel with the earth's axis - and a 
"plate" that is mounted horizontally and on which the hours are marked. 
The shadow of the gnomon on the plate shows the time. There are other 
kinds of dial, including one that is vaguely like a hollow sphere, with 
a rod at the axis, and the hours marked on a ring around the equator. 
This kind can be tilted so as to work at any latitude, in either 
hemisphere. 
  
                             dow 
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