Tasmania Saving Davlight

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31498, 12 October 1967, Page 7

Tasmania Saving Davlight

(From DAVID -BARBER, Special Correspondent N.Z.PA.) SYDNEY, October 10. As Australia’s smallest State goes into its second week of Tasmanian summer time, the rest of the country is keenly watching its experiment in daylight saving.

Tasmania has become the (uiaffig Mt for the rest of the eovntrjr, and the suecßu or falloiß of the scheme could dfiddo whether other States follow suit And adopt an extra hour of ffiiiMhine each day during the summer. H •"<££. SS ountry is not at'use of sumi ' rignt'ln the in ifiiMnt years, a RM lobby Farmers have been the mkln objectors, and it is interesting to note that the Tasmania Farmers' Federation did not receive one complaint about the new system in its Brst week. Apert from the odd prob-lem-like the family of three who, unbeknown to each other, each advanced the household clock by an hour on the flrst night—daylight saving seems to hove made a good start in Tasmania. The weather did not play the game and it snowed heavily on the first day of sum-mer-time, but since then sportsmen have found they can enjoy a game of tennis or bowls in the early evening and garden lovers have got in some digging or weed-

Ing after getting home from work. Tasmania introduced the scheme as a move to save power after a drought whieh has badly hit the State’s hydro-electricity supply, but its supporters see many other benefits. They claim its introduction throughout Australia would reduce crime, increase daylight recreation, improve health, and reduce the road toll. Farmers, especially dairy farmers, have led opposition to proposals for the scheme In New South Wales, Victoria find Queensland, as they have done in New Zealand. But “daylight-savers” claim

dairy farmers would not have to get up an hour earlier every morning and interrupt their normal milking schedules.

“In fact,” said one, “if the dairy farmers rase at 6 a.m. by the ‘summer-time dock,' for example, instead of 4 a.m. they would Still be on the old milking schedule. “Nature will not change with the introduction of the system,” he added, “cows and babies will still awaken at the same time. Ohly the clocks and wfitchei will be different"