Saving the Sunlight.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 9, 26 August 1908, Page 10

Saving the Sunlight.

Many striking changes in the habits and customs of the community will be brought about if the scheme of Air William Willett, for saving daylight by Act of Parliament, becomes law. The Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended that the clock should be altered twice during the year, as follows:— (1) Put forward one hour from two o'clock to three on the morning of the third Sunday in April. (2) Put back one hour from three o’clock to two o'clock on the morning of the third Sunday in September. In the event of the Bill being passed this year, the public would awake on the morning of Sunday, April 18, 1909, to find that they had lost one hour while they slept. They would find their watches slow, and they might be late for church, but otherwise they would not notice anything unusual. Each summer day for twenty-two weeks, however, they would find they had gained an extra, hour of daylight, 151 hours in all. On Sunday, September 19, 1909, at 2 a.in., the clock would perforin another curious trick. The hour from 2to 3 a.m. would pass, and then it would be suddenly 2 a.m. again. Two hours would only count as one to readjust the timemachine. This performance, suggestive of “Alice in Wonderland,” would take place without arousing the sleeping country. Watches would be an hour fast at breakfast time, but nothing else would appear altered. A dramatic possibility would be afforded by the fact that on the morning of September 19 the clock would in theory move twice round from two to three. It would be possible for a man to be in two places miles apart- at say 2.15 a.m. The first appearance would be noted by “local” and the second by Greenwich time. Mr Willett lias received many congratulations on the success of bis measure. Lord Avebury and many other distinguished men have written, expressing satisfaction.