Source: Astrologer Rab Wilkie, citing a newspaper published on July 2, 1867: "The 12:05 p.m. moment is based on an eye- (and ear-) witness account published in the local Ottawa newspaper the following day [...] the time [cited] was when the Canadian cannon boomed in a most public and ceremonial manner. It was scheduled in fact for noon on the dot, but a dud fuse had to be replaced which delayed the salute for 'about five minutes', according to the newspaper reporter." (Private correspondence with Wilkie, 9 Nov 1998.) It is probably due to a similar research results that Campion states: "The advent of the state was hailed at 00.05 hrs. by the ringing of bells and a 101-gun salute, although the legislation would have come into effect five minutes earlier." "The Book of World Horoscopes," p. 110.
