SUMMER VACATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17233, 12 April 1930, Page 7

SUMMER VACATION

PROPOSED ALTERATION SIR THOS. SIDEY’S SCHEME j HOLIDAYS IN BEST WEATHER (Special tostne Herald.) WELLINGTON, this clay. The Attorney-General, Sir Thomas Sidcy, in an interview to-day, discussed further de-tails of his proposal that the longer summer vacation should he held in February and a portion of Maxell, instead of during December and January, as at present. r lhe Minister, who made it clear that lie was jo'niy expressing his own personal views, referred also to the bearing on the question of stabilising Easter, and if possible an extension ot' daylight saving for another month annually. A'Some weeks have elapsed since I ppt forward for consideration the suggestion that our long summer vacation might include the month of February and run into March,” said Sir Thomas. “I observe that the suggestion has been widely discussed, and it is very gratifying to me that it has been favorably received by many persons who are entitled to speak with authority. The reception accorded to the proposal has at least demonstrated that it is worthy of serious consideration. I am sure it may be affirmed without'the slightest hesitation that if .the time of the year for holding the long summer vacation were to be determined only by the consideration that it should be held at the time the linest and most settled weather conditions prevail, and by no other consideration, then it must include the month of February —the finest month in the year. L ' METEOROLOGICAL REPORT “This is confirmed by a reference to the meteorological returns for almost every part of New Zealand covering a period of about half a century. In further support of that proposition one need only to quote from a communication addressed to me on the subject by the director of the meteorological branch, Dr. E. Kidson, who states: ‘February is undoubtedly the finest month .of the year. There is more settled and less stormy weather than in any other months, and conditions are generally pleasant. March also is a fine month. The wind velocity is lower in February and March than in December and January. The days are, of course, beginning to grow shorter, but are still of a good length.’ ” Sir Thomas Sidey went on to remark: “I have already drawn attention to my own experience in the south, and which is the experience of so many others, extending over many years, that the weather conditions are almost always unstable at Christmas and the New Year. Therefore, I reaffirm the proposition that if this question were to be determined solely by the consideration of line weather conditions the decision must be in favor of tte proposal I have put forward. DIFFICULTIES AN A LYSED “The chief difficulties in the way of the proposal as I have analysed them from letters I have received, and statement made publicly, arise, first, from our traditional observance of Christmas, and second, from the proximity of Christmas to New Year. At Christmas there arc family reA unions.. Thus boarders, especially at' secondary schools, might have to .travel long distances in the middle of a term. This might mean closing the schools for not fewer than nine days from December 24 to January 1. This might have a unsettled influence on ,the minds of children so far as the work for the remainder of the term, was concerned. Again, the proximity of the two holidays has induced the practice on the part of many firms and establishments of closing down for 10 days or a fortnight over the Christmas afld New Year holidays, and it is only natural that parents who take advantage of this practice to go away from home should desire their children to accompany them. Furthermore, shopkeepers may desire parents and children to have some time olf before Christmas Day to enable Christmas shopping to be done. “I have examined other objections, including one relating to the holding of certain examinations, some of ■which might be held at the beginning of January, but I do not consider that these objections present any great obstacle to the introduction of the proposal. Difficulties arc only made to be overcome, if the objective is a good one, and it will be for those who arc especially concerned to carefully examine the proposal to determine whether its advantages are sufficiently great to outweight the objections that may be legitimately raised against it. SUGGESTED SCHOOL TERMS

“I observe that the proposal is to be‘discussed at many annual meetings of householders for the election of school committees on the last Monday of this month. In order that householders may have before them some concrete indication of how the school year would be divided, I submit a suggested scheme for primary schools, say fdr 1930, as follows: First term, March 9 to Juno 12 (14 weeks); second term* June 29 to September 2.> (13 weeks); third term, October 12 to January 22 (15 weeks). “It will be seen that the second term is made shorter than the others because it is not broken by any public holidays. It is kept short also to coincide as much as possible with the university term, which might, if nccessarv, be also slightly modified. The first term would include Easter and the third term Christmas and New Year. Of course some special arrangement's would have to be made for the change-over. A FIXED EASTER

“There are two other matters that have some relation to this question.’' added the Minister. “The first is the. fixation of the date ot Easter. Since my previous interview appeared a file dealing with this question has ■been submitted for my consideration. I observe that in England an Act was passed in 1928 fixing the date of Easter for the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Ihe Act, however, can only comc into operation by Orucr-in-Council, the object being before bringing it into force to secure as far as possible uniformity with other countries and throughout the Empire. advantage of the stabilisation of .the date of Easter is, of course, the greqtor the more universally it is observed. If any legislation were passed in New Zealand it would only be desirable to enact it subject to the condition that, it should come into operation only if, and when, the English Act comes into force. It seems to md, however, in looking through the file 'that in view of the difference of opinlbn that obtains in certain quarters it is doubtful whether the legislation passed by the Imperial Goveni-

meat will be brought into operation. In my opinion, therefore, instead of onr passing any provisional legislation on the same lines in the meantime it would be preferable that the matter be made the subject of consideration at the approaching Imperial Conference.

“I may, however, point out,’’ continued Sir Thomas, “that the proposed date as set out in the English Act would, if the Now Zealand school year were altered in the manner suggested above, be at least more suitable than the date of Easter is for the present school term. This year the Easter holidays come within three weeks of the end of the term. Under the now scheme Easter would come about five weeks after the commencement of the term. SUMMER T'IME EXTENSION “A further matter that has some bearing on the long summer vacation proposition is the observance of summer time,’’ said Sir Thomas. “It is clear that the observance of half an hour of summer time can be carried on for a longer period of the year than could the observance of one full hour, and I believe that the half-hour might be extended to say the third Sunday in April, which would ordinarily cover the Easter holidays, ami would do so in ail cases if the Easter date were fixed us provided in the English Act. “There is another consideration which affects the observance of the full hour of summer time, and that, is that owing to the equation of time the mornings contract rapidly in February and March so that the amount of daylight available in the morning at the beginning of February is little more than that available at the beginning of October, when summer time, starts, and is less during February and March than at any period of the observance of summer time.

“One of the reasons urged against the full hour of summer time is that there is not sufficient daylight for certain work to lie done in the morning, and the children got away to school. That objection applies with greatest force after the schools reopen at the beginning of February, but the objection would be almost entirely removed if the new proposal regarding the long summer vacation were brought into operation, as during the later portion of the observance ol summer time, the schools would be closed, and the proposal, therefore, lor the later observance of the long summer vacation is one which would help the reinstatement of the full hour of summer time, which might then be extended to the close of that vacation. It would add greatly to the facilities for children to enjoy their summer holidays.’’