SUMMER TIME

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 661, 13 October 1933, Page 7

SUMMER TIME

EARLY SCHEMES ' NEW? ZEALANDER A PIONEER OF DAYLIGHT SAYING. DOMINION'S LONG FIGHT. Now that Summer Time has begun aigain and that a project for extend- - ing the effect of ? the Act has been brought before Parliament, it is not linopportune to review the events which led up to the adoption of Summer Time in th'e Dominion. Our remote ancestors from force of circumstances more or less got upJ in the morning with the sun and went to bed when it set at night, but they must be ruled out of the running for honours as oniginators of the idea of, daylight saving. Benjamin Franklin ' was the firstmaodern advocate of daylight saving. In 1874 he published a paper entitled "An Eeonomic Project ' for Diminishing the Cost of Light." This was an aeademic treatment of the subject of daylight saving and it was not accorded any serious consideration. The next advocate to make his voice heard was a New Zealander, Mr. G. V. Hudson. In October, 1895, he propounded a scheme "to alter the time of docks at each equinox so as to bring the worlcing hours of the day within the period of daylight, and by utilising the early morning reduce the excessive use of artificial daylight which at present prevails." Mjr. Hudson's proposal lnvolved altering the docks by as much as two hours, but the daylight saving fell on deaf ears. Three years later he returned ta the attack, complaining that his opponents had not taken the trouble to master even the rudiments of the problem. "Tiime," he pointed out, "was merely an ahstraction devised for human convenience," and therefore there was nothing- sacrilegious in altering time, ias some maintained. But Mr. Hudson's battle was not won until many years later. In 1907 daylight saving was brought to the fore again in England, when a Chelsea builder named Wdlliam Willett aired his vi'ews on the subject. He wanted to alter the docks by 80 minutes, with four leaps of 20 minutes each, so as to utilise daylight which in summer time was going to waste. He managed to gain considerable support for his proposal, so much so that it was considered by a Sslect Committee of the (English Parliament. The Committee conceded the merits of the proposal, but expressed the opinion that the difficulties involved were too great to allow the proposal to be put into operation. In the following year a Parliamentary Committee reported definitely against the proposal. The War Did It. The ,idea of Summer Time seemed to have died and to have been decently buried, but when the Great War came along- it upset previously-held ideas on Summer Time as it did those held on many other subjects. To save fuel was of paramount importance in the war years, and the adoption of daylight saving was one way to accomplish this. Germany was the first of the belligerent nations to institute daylight saving. This was done in 1916; then France followed suit, and thirdly Great Britain. In 1916, wh n the proposal was being considered by the British Parliament, Lord Balfour of Balfour said that it was the most absurd and ridiculous Bill that had ever .been presented to the House. But Summer Time was instituted snd intuted to stay; grateful people in England have honoured William Wil- ' lett with a memorial. and Summer Time, a full hour, is now enjoyed every year.

New Zealand Late on the Scene. New Zealand in the meantime had lagged behind in the matter. The advocacy of daylight saving originated by Mi\ Hudson was continued by Sir (then plain Mr.) T. K. Sidey. He persisted in his endeavours to' introduce daylight saving into the Dominion, but he met with strong opposition. However, in 1927 the battle was won; Parliament, after heated debate, passed a measure giving the Dominion one hour of extra daylight ' in the summer months. Opponents of the measure found that it was not such a disaster as they had made out it would he, and .it reeeived the cordial approbation of a large majority of the people. But the Act provided for Summer Time for one year only, and when the summer of 1928 was getting elose it looked as if the experiment was not going to be repeated. In the dying hours of the session, however, a surprise was sprung on Parliament and . a compromise was put through the 1 House. This provided for half an hour of daylight saving, and was accepted gladly on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread. Opposition to Summer Time gradually ' waned, and in 1929 all uncertainty about its continuance was ended by the passing of a Bill which made it ' a permanency every year, but only for half an hour. What the present Parliament will do about extending both tbe period during which Summer Time operates and the length of the extra daylight remains to he seen. It is certain that both extensions would he welcomed by the majority of the people. _ Mr. Sidey has his reward m bemg given a knighthood, and he lived long enough to see the Dominion benefit ' by his measure. Although Sir Thomas Sidey gained the halo, Mr. Hudson's orig.inal advocacy was not forgotten, and this year the Sidey Memorial Medal was awarded to him in recognition of his work.