DAYLIGHT SAVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20615, 14 July 1930, Page 12

DAYLIGHT SAVING.

Sir,- I wish to heartily endorse "Struggling Farmer's" letter, and as one who is keenly interested in farmers and all who arc directly connected with them, would like to express my opinion. Is it reasonable to expect the herd's yield to be the same when they are brought in at 2 a.m. (3 a.m. daylight saving time) when they should be resting, then, to be regular in the afternoons, to bring them in at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. D.S.), the hottest part of the day, when they are tormented by flies and heat, when they should be grazing ? No, we cannot do it. We have to bo up earlier, and, to consider our herds, milk later in the afternoons, working hard all day in between. Then take the dairy factories. They have to be at work at 2 a.m. (3 a.m. D.S.) and work like absolute slaves to catch trains, etc., which convey their produce to market, and work till 5 or 6 p.m., too, in smaller factories; no playtime for them. They are so exhausted when the day's work is finished they certainly have no energy to waste'in play. If the town people are so anxious to play, cet up at 3 a.m. like we do, and play till you are satisfied. Then do your day's work (what is left of it), but leave the farmer alone. Daylight saving is a splendid thing for manufacturing countries, but not for a producing country, and as Nc->v Zealand is still very much of an infant country, I think a little Plunket idea introduced, "regularity, with no change of time" would greatly improve things all round. Farmer's Supporter.

Sir, —Before making the confident assertion that the reversion to the full hour of daylight saving "would ensure substantial saving of artificial lighting," surely "Well-wisher from Whit ford" would have been well advised had ho first ascertained that the saving would be real and not merely imaginary. That it would prove to be the latter is, I submit, in accord witlj both theory nnd experience. In my case, that of a typical worker, starting work at my trade at 8 o'clock, tho preparation of breakfast and other necessary work required the morning use of electric light even in February, under the full hour experiment of daylight saving—an increase in current used with no appreciable saving in the evening—neither did my monthly lighting bills show nny material decrease from previous ones under standard time. That this was the general experience was borne out by tho chairman of our own power board, who stated that the saving had been very small. The compulsory earlier starting of work moans an increase in morning current consumption, which could only be offset by an equal saving in the evening, through consumers retiring earlier to bed: as the latter condition is not compulsory, there is no guarantee that it would bo even generally carried out. From whence, then, will the "substantial saving" come? But the vital point is tlvs. that even granting there was a materia! saving at that particular time, it would not meet the difficulty that has to be overcome, namely, tl'ie provision of sufficient power to carry the peak load, which reitand}' dAes not occur at bed-time. There is evidence that there is going to be » strong effort to make tho Arapuni disaster a "stalking horse" for the imposition of further daylight saving and the abolition of the so-called (or rather mis-called) half-hour "compromise" which wo have been so often assured was a great suc-

cess. warranting it being made "permanent." The times certainly call t nl " drastic measures and the total repeal of a few such fads as the above, that divert j attention from the vital issues nnd that cause discord and hamper industry without any compensating benefits, would clear the way for the serious consideration of the problems that must be faeedl if wo are to escape national disaster Old Timer.