1.—15.

6

[c. w. shallcbass.

as " summer time," and that the objections were more or less illusory, or made by those prejudiced againstjthe movement, or by those refusing to understand it. The support of the league was given to the movement principally on economic grounds. It will be seen from the diagram- -this diagram was made out for the Committee that considered the question in 1909, and Mr. Sidey will, no doubt, supply you with a copy of it —that there are, between Ist October and Ist April, 284 hours 35 minutes of daylight from sunrise until 9 a.m., and that this is 138 hours 15 .minutes more than from 5 p.m. to sunset, indicating that the hours of sunlight are greater before what is commonly the working-hour than they are after what is commonly the time for leaving off work. Now, if these morning hours are used instead of those in the evening, it is clear that we must be making use of the daylight to a greater extent, and every extra hour of daylight used it an extra hour of artificial light saved. It is difficult to estimate what this saving throughout the Dominion would bo. Every household should save one hour's light per day, and all shops and business places which keep open in the evening and all shops on the late nights would make a similar saving. It ought to be a safe basis to estimate the saving on an average for each household of 10s. during the five months. The saving to shopkeepers would be very substantial. Is that 10s.- per week ?- No ; 10s. for each household for the whole period. The measure was adopted at Home and in Germany mainly on economic grounds during the war, and the best guide as to the saving effected is the experience of the United Kingdom. There we have an actual experience, and there is no estimate so far as the United Kingdom is concerned, and they have been able to tell from actual experience as a consequence of the adoption of the measure what the saving was, and the saving in coal alone in the United Kingdom for the first year was no less than 2,500,000 tons, which was an immense and valuable economic saving to the community. 1 may say also that the extra hour would be a great advantages to young people.and working-people who are endeavouring to makes a home for themselves. Of course, the experience in Wellington is the same as that in most places. For instance, a young man goes out to Karori and has to cut out a site for himself in order to erect a home for his wife and family. In Christchurch you will find that the young fellows are making their homes a little way out in one of the suburbs, and the experience in Auckland and other places is similar. The extra hour affords him the opportunity to improve the property which he hopes to make for his home. There is also gardening to be done and odd jobs about the house, and this extra hour affords the best opportunity of doing this very useful work. We think that any movement which will assist young people in the community to make and improve homes for themselves is a good one and a policy that the Government should pursue. It will bo probably declared that the community will continue to remain out of bed. to as lato an hour as at present, and this would have an injurious effect upon children. That is a common objection. Here, again, wo will again refer to the Old Country and. find out what is the experience there. At Home, among other things, it was alleged that children's hours would be curtailed, and that vitality of body was reduced in the early hours ; but the reports of police authorities showed, that the tendency throughout tho country to spend the extra hour out-of-doors made for improvement in the moral tone, as well as a marked decrease in juvenileoffences was noted, and the health committees saw no reason to suppose workers were adversely affected. 1 may say that the league, in order to ascertain what was the feeling throughout New Zealand either for or against the Bill, communicated with the various organizations throughout the country, and the following local bodies and industrial organizations have, within the past throe months, expressed their approval of tins measure : Christchurch City Council ; Wanganui City Council; Wanganui Harbour Board; Dannevirke Borough Council; Petono Borough Council; New Plymouth Borough Council; Pahiatua Borough Council; Northcote Borough Council; Birkenhead Borough Council; Palmerston North Borough Council ; Hawera Borough Council; Whakatane Borough Council; Thames Borough Council; Ashburton Borough Council; Blenheim Borough Council; Inglewood. Borough Council; Stratford Borough Council; Taumarunui Borough Council; Newmarket Borough Council; Takapuna Borough Council ; To Aroha Borough. Council; Otahuhu Borough Council; Wanganui Education Board ; The Federated Chambers of Commerce ; Wellington Chamber of Commerce ; Wanganui Chamber of Commerce ; Rotorua Chamber of Commerce ; Taranaki Chamber of Commerce ; Gisborne Chamber of Commerce ; Hastings Chamber of Commerce ; New Zealand Federated Drapers ; Wellington Grocers' Industrial Union of Employers ; New Zealand Furniture Trades Industrial Association ; Bank Officers' Guild. Are there any County Councils included in that.list I—No.1 —No. Were they asked ?—No. At about the time representatives of the County Councils in Tararaki were coming to Wellington in connection with a scheme of railway extension. They were approached on the subject, but the other County Councils were not communicated with on the subject. The other strong reasons in favour of the Bill are that it would provide better facilities for recreation, and in turn would be beneficial to the health of the community, making for efficiency —again an economic advantage. The medical profession, educational authorities, and sports bodies meet here on a common ground in their advocacy of the; measure;. The medical profession and the educational authorities will probably speak for themselves. L think I can, on behalf of the sports bodies, assume that tho Committee will freely admit that the adoption of summer time will give very much greater facilities for the promotion of our summer games. I am sure, too, that I will not have to persuade tho Committee to acknowledge that participation in our sports and pastimes is a great beneficial factor in forming the British character. It is acknowledged by all authorities that the qualities by which the Britisher is able to hold his own amongst the nations of the world have been cultivated to a groat extent on o\ir playing-fields. It is good policy, therefore, on the part of the State to assist the sports' bodies in the great national work which they voluntarily undertake without profit or gain. It seems unnecessary to unduly stress this point, as we have the advantage of the results of the actual experience of the United Kingdom. This should bo convincing evidence. In September, 1916,