A Sportsman’s Summer

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 153, 19 September 1927, Page 8

A Sportsman’s Summer

More Hours of Daylight Auckland Out of Doors ENGAGING prospects of longer hours for summer sports are just now absorbing Auckland sportsmen. If the Summer Time Bill is passed by the Legislative Council the official time of the Dominion will be advanced one hour from 2 am on Sunday. November 6, and the mean time will no; be restored until the first Sunday of the following March Outdoor recreation will be immensely stimulated bj the change, and many sports bodies may have to re-east then usual arrangements.

rjiHE effects of the innovation may extend much further than is commonly believed. Round Auckland on Saturday afternoon cruising parties will be able to go further, and return later. With dusk not falling until after eight o’clock, sportsmen may in future be having tea at an hour when, in other years, they have been watching a picture show. WEAR AND TEAR Tennis, bowls, cricket, and croquet are the sports chiefly likely to attract -a rr -)f. &a! yf. rr rr -rti rr. rl- a- rit Ve

IK X tK tv IK % % % % 3$ X 3$ more members as a result of the longer daylight. Tennis particularly will benefit, though club committees in charge of grass courts may discover that their turf is compelled to undergo heavier wear and tear than is usually allowed for. The game’s popularity should be widened by daylight-saving, as many who can now play on Saturdays only will be able to reach outlying suburban courts in time for an hour’s play each evening of the working week. On Saturday afternoons members of crowded clubs will be able to get more than the meagre number of sets that has hitherto been their share. Cricketers will enjoy longer hours

for play on Satui day afternoons, and better playing conditions, where now they are often handicapped by twithe months affected by daylight saving the playing period has hitherto been closed at 6.15 p.m. ir October and February, and at 6.30 pm. m December and January. With a:a extra hour added to these times, there will he fewer undecided cricket matches, and more late teas for cricketers. Yachtsmen and motor-boat crews will find the extra hour of daylight chiefly valuable in permitting an extension of their cruising range. There is no likelihood of longer courses for the Saturday yacht races. “We don’t want longer courses. They are long enough now,” said Mr. A. Collings, well-known yachting official, this morning. But he added that the innovation would undoubtedly be better for the sport. Rowing on the Waitemata will improve through the change, which will permit more regular training on week evenings and will create more time for club races, which previously have been restrained to Saturday afternoons. A BUILDER’S REFORM It is interesting to recollect that the originator of the reform which makes these things possible was a London builder, William Willetts. who died before he could persuade his country to agree with his views. Mr. T. K. Sidey’s long struggle for the adoption of summer time measures in New Zealand had a parallel in England, when the first Daylight Saving Bill was introduced in 1908, and referred to a select committee, which reported in its favour. In 1909 the Bill passed its second reading, but later was rejected by a majority of one. Vigorous propaganda failed to secure the introduction of the measure until 1916, when war conditions emphasised its advantages. First brought into operation on May 21, 1916, it was renewed over a month earlier in 1917, and in 1920 the period of its application was extended to October 25. The hour fixed for the advancing of the clock is always 2 a.m. on a Sunday. SYNCHRONISED SUMMER In England it is estimated that lot hours of daylight are saved every year by the adoption of the scheme. Germany and France adopted tie principle in 1916, and Italy in 1917. The United States gave the system a trial, but abandoned it in 1919. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere daylight saving is now synchronised in all countries by which it has been adopted.