SIDEY MEDAL.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 458, 20 May 1932, Page 8

SIDEY MEDAL.

Donor Pleased with Terms of Award. WIDE DISCRETIONARY POWERS. Sir Thomas Sidey, father of Summer Time, passed through Christchurch this morning on his way to Dunedin after having attended the meeting of the New Zealand Institute yesterday which fixed the terms of the award of the Sidey Medal. Sir Thomas expressed satisfaction at the terms which, he said, left wide discretionary powers with the institute. The actual terms provide for the presentation of the medal, with a monetary prize, to the individual producing the best paper or other work drawing attention not only to the advantages of summer time, but also to the value to human welfare of light and its allied properties. Sir Thomas explained that he w r as gratified that the institute had taken so wide a view of the award of the medal. It was never his idea that the medal should be given for an academic treatise only, but should go, if it was deserved, to the individual or individuals doing the most valuable work in the direction indicated, no matter what that work was. It was conceivable that the award might be made to someone who had not even applied for it. After years of effort on the part of a few people, with Sir Thomas at their head, the Summer Time Act came into force in 1927. To express appreciation of the passage of the- Act, the employees of one of the largest drapery firms in Wellington started a shilling subscription. The movement spread, and a committee was formed to deal with the money which was accumulating fast.

Many Suggestions. When the application of the fund came to be discussed, suggestions were received from all parts of New Zealand, and embraced a very wide range, a scholarship at the University, or an annual competition among schools being popular. One thing that limited all the possibilities was that the capital of the fund was £SOO, a sum which would not give a large annual income. Ultimately, on the suggestion of two professors, one connected with medicine, and the other a professor of chemistry, the award was fixed as a medal, with a monetary prize. The award may be made to anyone at all who has performed some valuable piece of work forwarding the cause of sunlight. “ I am very satisfied with the terms of the award,” said Sir Thomas this morning. “ I was anxious that the verywidest discretionary powers should be given to the institute, and this has been done.”

Still Hopeful. Sir Thomas is very far from being content with the half-hour at present allowed by the statute. “ I am still hoping that the full hour will become a permanent fixture,” he said. “ I believe that never before did the people get so much of the open air as they did when the full hour was in operation. Many people are looking for its return. The chief opposition came from the dairying industry, but actually production in the industry didn't suffer. As a matter of fact, in the first daylight saving year, dairy produce figures were a record.” The approved design of the medal, which was submitted by Dr Cockayne and Professor Kirk, will bear a portrait of the donor in profile on the obverse side, and on the reverse the design will show the sun’s rays and a portion of the sun’s disc, with representations of the Greek goddess Ceres, the goddess of vegetation, and Ilygeia, the goddess of health.