DAYLIGHT SAVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19879, 24 February 1928, Page 14

DAYLIGHT SAVING.

Sir,—All the talk against daylight saving by mothers who say their children are not able to go to sleep in daylight is so much nonsense. I was brought up in the Shetland Islands and Edinburgh. In the former place there is no darkness at all in June, the light being so good as to enable one to take photographs at mdinight. As a child I went to bed in broad daylight. When I was told to go to" bed, I went, and did not argue the point, like some of the present baby generation. There are certainly more farmers at home, and certainly more mothers of sixes and sevens, and thirteens, too, than in New Zealand. If the young people had a little more sunlight and less picture shows and jazzing and late hours it would be to the lasting good of the rising generation. Chas. Gray. 3, Cobden Street. Sir,—lt is all very well to talk about t,ne time daylight ' saving gives for sports, but what about the milkman, who has to get up at 1.30 in the morning to be out on the road delivering milk ? In the ordinary way, he goes to bed about 8.30, to enable him to get sufficient rest to rise in the morning, but under this daylight scheme it is 9.30. Consequently he loses an hour of the rest which is essential for him. ■ Moreover, the milkman works every day in the week, with only an annual holiday. Daylight saving is a *curae to a man in that position. Milkman's Wife. Sir, —"Unprejudiced" writes that mothers in general have very little control over their children. I think that is very unfair. "Unprejudiced"' almost wants us mothers to stand over our children's beds with a strap and demand them to go to sleep. I think it absolute madness to try to force a child to sleep. It was also suggested that all parents should develop a little backbone. It is not . backbone we require to handle our children, as far as going to bed in the daylight is concerned. Let a few of "Sidey Timers" try my work as a farmer's wife. All we want is God's own time, to which we have always been used, like our mothers and fathers before us . Farmer's Wife.

Sir In reviewing the operation of the Summer Time Act;, Mr. T. K. Sidey does not mention the dairy farmer, of whom there are quite a tew thousands. To follow the Act it means getting tip earlier and that is a serious matter. We mostly have 14 to 16 hours a day. If you milk at 5 a.m. you should milk at 5 p.m. Go into any shed at what is realty 4 p.m. and see the flies and feel the neat. One hour later there is a tremendous difference. For two to three months the fiies nearly drive the cows mad and they are worse than usual this season. If the townspeople want daylight saving let them have it, but not at the expense of the farmers. F,. B. Anderson. Te Kauwhata.

BIRKENHEAD TRANSPORT. Sir,—Thirteen years ago this borough was served with a horse-drawn vehicle as a means of transport. A motor-bus company was started and, after an uphill fight, was worked up into a first-class company with a plant large enough to cater for the needs of the district. Today, owing to the action of our council, we are losing the services and buses of this company and are to rely on taxis as our means of transport. Owing to the licensing of these taxis as omnibuses, this company is compelled to close down. If ever a retrograde step was taken, it has been by our council and calls for immediate action On the part of the ratepayers of this district. What is ,to become of the place when we have taxis as a means of conveyance? Do our councillors expect people to settle in the district, when they have to scramble, for a taxi to take them home ? Several have already mentioned to me that as soon as the buses go off, they are going to town to live. What will happen at the 5.10 p.m. rush boat is hard to imagine. It will be a case of first some first served, as it is at present with the taxis, and those who do not get off in the first rush will be loft behind. These taxis are licensed to carry seven passengers, but at rush trips are always overloaded. Ratepayer.