DAYLIGHT SAVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 12

DAYLIGHT SAVING.

Sir, —As one who has worked on the land for years, I determined to give daylight saving a fair trial, and after four months' experience of it, am quite satis-, fled and hope to see it become a permanent institution in New Zealand. The truth is that the innovation has not made any real difference to the farmer—and on this point I challenge, contradiction. As is well known, the farmer always takes advantage of the long summer days to perform the maximum amount of work and in this respect, this year, daylight saving or not, has made no difference. The hours of labour have not been increased and any assertion to the contrary is merely the product of a fertile imagination. Certainly, there have been some minor adjustments; each factory, being a unit to itself so far as times goes, arranging its own hour at which the cream or milk had to be delivered. And even then, no inconvenience has been caused. Some suppliers have, of course, been late, but it remains an undeniable fact, that under standard time, some also have been late—they will be late even when "the bell rings up yonder." A case in pointone of the cream carters in this district refused to '-wait yesterday for throe dilatory ones—and this occurred under standarc! time, not under the much-maligned Summer Time Act. Again, I know of an instance, where the suppliers to a butter factory actually preferred themselves to send in the cream by summer time. Perhaps the most astounding objection to daylight saving comes from Te Puke. The supply of milk, so they aver, has decreased there on account of daylight saving. Surely the mover of this motion must bo a descendant of Mark Twain: he has certainly added to the gaiety of the nations. Olt course, the abnormal dry spell, with corresponding lack of good nutritious fodder, had nothing to do with the decline in production! The assertion, like all the others advanced in opposition to a beneficial measure, is not the outcome of experience, but of imagination and innate prejudice to advancement. When some farmers shako off their inherent conservatism and fall in lino with the forces of progress, it will be better for them in particular and for the welfare of New Zealand as a whole. The fact remains that there has been no materialisation of the woes and hardships which were said to follow in the train of daylight saving—the balance has been all the other way. Let There Be Light.