CUNFKRFXn-: OF SCIKNTIFK" S( >CI KTIHS. 525 



That in view oi the consideral)le advantaiic^ tn l)c gained by a fuller 

 use of tlayhght, the Gtnernment l)e requested to take into consideratfon 

 the desirabihty of advancing tlie time of the Unio»7 one lidur for six 

 months of the year, from September 30th vmtrl Marcli 31st. 



As is. of course, well known, the principal reasons for the 

 introduction of the change of time in Cireat Britain and France 

 were the increased efficiency g'ained by the extra hour's work 

 in daylight, and the econoni)' effected by the saving in cost of 

 one hour of artificial light. To these Mr. Cha])pel added that 

 the facilities thus obtained for an hour's open-air recreation of 

 some sort might also be considered as an additional aid to effi- 

 ciency during working hours. In view of the trium])hant success 

 that the experiment has achieved in Great Britain and France, 

 where it has been universally adopted, there can l)e no reason- 

 able doubt as to its merits, and as an industrial people it is our 

 duty to do all in our power to bring about the much-needed 

 change. \'arious suggestions have been made from time to time 

 as to the manner of making this change, but all of them have 

 been rejected in favour of the one proposed by the resolution. 

 I'ic.. altering the clock. Man is very much a creature of habit, 

 and if he has been used to going to his work or to his ofifice 

 at a given time he resents going an hour earlier, although he 

 will go most ttncomplainingly an hour earlier in reality as long 

 as it is called the same hour. The real superiority of the pro- 

 posed method over any other lies in the fact that by altering 

 the clock you do away with the necessity (for altering any Laws 

 or Regulations which in any way deal w'ith time, and also you 

 have no need whatever to alter time-tables of any kind whether 

 for railway or other purposes. When this proposal was put 

 before the (iovernment of the Union of South Africa, the only 

 argument that they used in support of their refusal to adopt it 

 was to the effect " that the majority of the white inhabitants 

 of the Union who live in the country districts and villages, and 

 the mantial workers who live in towns, regulate their lives more 

 closely in accord with the rising and setting of the sun than do 

 the bulk of the town dwellers, and, as far as the Government 

 are aware, there has been no expression of opinion from them 

 in favour of any alteration in clock time. Under the suggested 

 scheme farmers and others in the country districts would pro- 

 bably regard it as a grievance if during the summer months 

 they were obliged to rise an hour earlier when they wanted to 

 travel by an early morning train or to send or bring produce 

 to market, or to attend to any business in town in the morning." 

 In this argument it will be noted that it is admitted that the 

 country districts already practise the very excellent principle for 

 which we are striving, and therefore it is clear that if our request 

 were granted no great inconvenience would be caused to those 

 who already regulate their lives in conformity therewith. 



When in 1892 the clock time was altered by the Government 

 in the Cape Province, and again in 1903 it was altered through- 

 out what is now known as the Union of South Africa, the 



