The Wanganui Chronicle "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1912. SAVING DAYLIGHT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 14 December 1912, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1912. SAVING DAYLIGHT.

The advocates of daylight saving in New iSouth Wales are making another attempt to secure legislative endorsement of tho reform. The Bill now before the State Parliament provides for advancing all clocks ,by ono houir from the first Sunday in October to the firet Sunday in March in each year. Generally speaking, the method and aiima of the proposal are the same as those of the numerous Bills under consideration by legislative bodies in many ipants of tho Empire. / The method is a compulsory alteration of all clocks forward at tho beginning of summer, and baok- ' wards at the beginning of winter, in order to secure tho ittaximuini use of the hours of sunshine for recreation by the people. The aim ds the improvement of tho health and happiness of the workers in the community, by giving opportunities 'for reicreation in t<he daylight, now denied to very many of them. The main operative clause of the Australian Bill reads thus: "(1) -Notwithstanding anything contained1 in ffche Standard Time Act, 1895, throughout Victoria,' from the hour of two in

the morning of the firs^ Sunday in Oc-; tober in each year until the hour of . two in the morning of tOie first Sunday j in March in the next following year, ■' Victoria time' s<haii foe one hour in of standard time. (2) In this j Section the expression ' the hour of , two in the morning'' means the hour, as determined by standard time." This means, in effect, that at two <>'clock in the morning on the first Sunday in October, all clocks on railway stations, post offices, town hialls, {public offices,, etc., would be advanced an hour. This advanced time would become the official j time for all transactions known to tihe\j law, except, perhaps, certain astronomical and navigation calculations. The clocks -would remain advanced' until 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in March, iwhen they would be put back for the winter months. The advocates of the change seek, it will be seen, to promote a larger use of sunlight by causing people to commence their idiaily 'routines earlier during the summer months. They attain their end by the expedient of adl--vancing the clocks, so as to ensure an appreciable period between the end «* the day's work and the darkness. It is urged that as things are, the clock arbitrarily Tegulates the period of the day now devoted to the business affairs of city folk; whereas in the heat and glare of the summer this period should be governed by. the sun. "The apex^to which the whole movement converges," says the report of the Parliamentary select committee 'which reported in favour of the scheme in December, 1909, "is leisure after the routine of the day while the sun is still shining, and it is the way in which such leisure may be used iby various indivi- ; duals tbatf causes the seasonable change proposed Iby the Daylight Saving Bill to make such an extraordinary aippeal ito the metropolitan mind." It is con- , tended that once the community has

been 'accustomed to the ,nqw system, the initial inconveniences /would soon be. overshadowed by tho benefits reaped iby large sections of the working population. The report of the Victorian select committe submitted ia remarkable body of evidence which was an favour of "the measure —provided other States iwere prepared 'to come linto line land pass simultaneous legislation. The committee itself was prepared to press, the Bill even if unanimity of action was not secured. It siaid: "But if the j other States should not .agree to 'adopt the Bill, the advantages arising from its adoption in tbia State would so greatly outweigh any disadvantages that your .coimmiittee strongly 'recommends that it should be piassed into law in this State. Your committee feels t'biat it would give our industrial population such an advantage that the other States would necessarily 'have to fall into line." The report shows, however, .that the Postmaster-General of that year (1909) was against the scheme, and the Government iMeteoro-' Jogist 'raised many difficulties .when it was sought to apply it to weather reicords and telegrams. Mr P. Blar.ra;chi, the Government Astronomer, > on the other hand, said that from an astronomical point of view no objections could be .raised, adding that in the Melbourne Observatory there iwere three different times now used. The Victorian Railways ■'Commissioners supported the principl on public grounds iand in the ! interests of employees, provided it j vyere simultaneously and similarly adopted in adjacent States. In Victoriian Ranking circles a neutral (position was' taken up. The Stock Exchange and the Chamber of .Commerce supported the proposal under certain conditions. The then Chief Inspector of Factories (Mr. Ord) warmly commended (the change. Inquiries made iby his direction amongst men representing industnkil and shopkeeping. life • produced these -results: Out of 319 persons interviewed, 278 were favourable, 13 neutral, and 28 opposed to the change. Shopkeepers and assistants supported the departure, but representatives of several unions opposed it, (being adverse ito any earlier starting hours for work i.n the summer. (Many witnesses advocated the Bill because of its effect upon the compulsory'military training system. A Daylight Saving Bill is now before the House of Commons, but its prospects of passage this year are very Blight? It is said that 281 members (including Mr Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty), and' 350 municipal corporations and town councils, .support the measure.