DAYLIGHT SAVING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11731, 22 June 1916, Page 1

DAYLIGHT SAVING.

WORKING PERFECTLY IN HOLLAND JAMES DUNN, in London "Daily Mail.") Following the example, of Germany, Holland last week put the clock an hour in advance, thereby saving daylight. and the consumption of coal lor lighting purposes. ' The new order came into force on May 1. and we are now '.accustomed to sleep sooner and rise earlier, with benefit to health ana' poc- j ket. Too long have we been slaves of ; the clock, wasting our energy in the j night hours and rising reluctantly long i after sunrise. By the simple process ; of moving the hands of' clocks mid ! watches Dutchmen have cheated the ' night and exalted the day. J The cafes now close at midnight in- ! stead of one in the" morning; the fac- ; tory bell ring* at five instead of six; we , have afternoon tea at half-past three j and dine at. six-thirty. Wo have grip- ! ped the great truth that " Time was j for. man; not man made for tini(} " ; wo have conquered' the clock and made the sun stand still. This juggling with time is like children playing a game of pretence. "With j the cunning .deception of childhod we j steal an hour from time ajid think we j have cheated eternity. i Midnight on Sunday last was a so- ' lemn hour in Dutch homes* Gravely j the father of the house waited the • | "witching hour." and when the cathe- j ! dral chimes announced the doom of the ! | old system he solemnly advanced the j | hands of the clock, thereby flaunting j | the star .and lying to the sun. ! When I say Dutch homes I must ex- j I empt the farmhouses of Friesland—that j j independent, old-fashioned agricultural j I area of North Holland. "With, a fine j : conservatism, inherited and encourag- I ■ ed', the Fries land farmers looked with ! horror on the fantastic effort- of the j Dutch Government to play tricks with i time. The old Dutch clock, with ite i single brass weight and its crude yet j honest, face, had served them faithfully j for generations. To make that clock j wrong was a sacrilege; every tick would j be a lie and every chime a sin. ! So the farmers of Friesland stood by j the clocks of their fathers, and were an hour late with the morning's milk! They pulled out their watches and growled at tho clock in the market j square; they were eleven-hour prophets; in a twelve-hour land. Like all men ! behind the time v they walked sluggish- j ly, waiting for the hour that had gone. They had an uneasy feeling ,that they! had been cheated—and a. cheated Fries- i land farmer is more dangerous than a ! mad sheep; which shepherds will tell i voju is the most, formidable because the j ieast responsible of wild, beasts. ' ' HUSTLING AN HOUR, j The eleven o'clock farmer walked j through the twelve o'clock town like an earth man visiting the mountains of the moon. Late for market, late for dinner, late for the train, he realised he had overslept himself in the 'reborn* of things. But he remained tun 'to his clock and his conservatism. J'a hated change as" he feared Go:l. He held .that to trifle with time was a sin j against fixed lav,.-. As crops were sc/wn in spring ard reaped in August, :is the calendar numbered' the days, as the cold . came in winter and the heat in summer, so* com.; j the- hours to man. Row could nine be ! ten; how could eleven.betweh'o? Could i a meadow be a cornfield : could a jinstu're'bo a garden? What of the milking lwur and the time of meals? Could you coerce a cow by clockwork: could yon deceive a horse by turning a key? "Would the lark sing earlier because the clock died: .would the suit spurt over the' hensen at the signal of a premature Angclus ? So argueel the' fanners of Friesland, and' in their conscientious conservatism they stuck to nature and the clocks of their grandfathers. Tim- ' refused to hustle an .hour: they are behind the.' time, but abend of the tradition of their native land. Bnt we in the towns, having no traditions, only delusions...adopted the mechanical makeshift uik! timeservers from the hour. Mysclv. I record with what glow of self-sacrifice rewarded I rose at nine and knew.it was onlv eight. "With the. egotism of tho enrlv riser, I revelled in an atmosnhere of smugness and scented &oap. jiight o'clock "without an effort for me. was the hour of the early worm and the burly workman. Patronising the sun and "ennobling the morning, I looked the world at its toilet, and exchanged lies with the clock. BETTER AND MORE PROSPEROUS. As it was in the morning, so it at night: No lonaer did the accusing finder of the clock indict my nocturnal indiscretions. ; "With the plausible asfiurauce of a regulated lie, the clock told me 1 had earned easy virtue by modern methods. T had stolen an hour from the night—the only theft that is honoured in high places—and I slept like a clockwork saint. | But there have been excesses ot exj emplitude. I kntnv of one Dutch home i where the new order disorganised the I entiro household. Zealous in his obcaiI ence to the law. the father ot the house i advanced the clock one hour: ' of the enterprise of her husbano, the { housewife advanced the clock one hour; delight in her service, the domestic i advanced the clock one hour, and the ! only son of the house went to school at : six o'clock in the moni.ng. ; But von in England must not be ais- • maved bv these trifles. Daylight saving i is not merely a Dutch device to save | C oal; it is a clever evasion of the tyi- ' mnv of time. With our eompmsory I brown bread and our clockwork nioial- ! itv. wo arc in better health and moie | prosperous in business, do I tho sacrificed hour at night-, and, we ! enjoy the stolen hour in the moniing. ! \obodv suffers, everybody pipits, rues- | 'land farmers excepted, tliere i* no com--1 plaint: the whole scheme, woiks -ike ! [ho clockwork of it? inspiration. This iuc:gling with the time sho\\s I Ihnt w* rccomuse our weaknesses. It I is the device of the child's money-box—- |., tr j c k to save time a.s the child is ! taught to save Alld , x \ P 1W ®® : that! we are all children, glad to be ; deceived by a mechanical trick. A ; clockwork conscience is better than no conscience at all, so welcome the daylicht saving law, welcome the mechan- • ism that reduces the tyra.nny of time.