DAYLIGHT SAVING

Evening Star, Issue 18741, 17 September 1924, Page 9

DAYLIGHT SAVING

COMMITTEE'S FAVORABLE REPORT. EXPERTS’ EVIDENCE. [From Our Parliamentary Reporter,] WELLINGTON, September 16. ' Mr Sidey’s Bill to advance the time by one hour during the summer months has been favorably reported on by the Select Committee of the House appointed to take evidence on the matter. The committee has amended the measure slightly to provide that the change in time operate from the first Sunday in November instead of October, as the original Bill designed. The standard time is to be reverted to on the first Sunday in March, and the Bill is proposed to operate till September, 1925, unless extended by Parliament.

Evidence was given by Mr W. T. Neill, Surveyor-General, who considered daylight saving measures only suitable for adoption in countries within the temperate zone, where the difference between the length of the day in summer and winter is not large. It was unlikely that such a change as the Bill proposed would bo popular in the Australian States; and this applied to New Zealand to a certain extent. Here he considered it might bo anticipated that daylight saving would be more appreciated in the South Island than In the North. The time set by Sir James Hector for New Zealand was, in his opinion, the most useful all-round, but he considered it would be an advantage to have two times, summer time and winter time, giving eleven hours in advance of Greenwich m the winter, and twelve hours in the summer, instead of the fixed time of eleven and a-half hours in advance of Greenwich time. EFFECT ON RAILWAYS.

Mr M‘Villy (General Manager of Railways), who was among the witnesses, declared that there would be no difficulty in operating the tyne-tables under the Summer Time Bill, and there was no ■need to recast them. There would be a saving in lighting expenses which might be considerable, spread over the whole system.

Asked by Mr Sidey his opinion regarding the objection of dairy farmers—that as they worked by daylight rather than by tlie clock, there would be difficulty over milk delivery’ at factories served by rail, Mr M'VrKy replied that the position would be that the runs wore fixed to give facilities for business. What was at present 7 o’clock would become 6 o’clock, and trains fixed for 7 would run automatically at 6 in the summer. The meeting of dairy factory requirements would depend entirely on the conditions of the lines and the traffic. There were lines to-day, notably near the chief centres, where it was not possible to introduce additional trains at certain hours. The only train affected by the Bill would be the Auckland express, which, on the night of the introduction of summer time, would run part of the journey an hour late. Evidence favoring the Bill was given by the president of the Wellington Trades Council, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Sports Protection League; while opposing evidence came from representatives of the Farmers’ Union;