Time travel with “daylight savings” in New Zealand

photo credit: Mike9Alive

For the first time in the history of the known universe, New Zealand’s Daylight Saving Time was extended to the first Sunday in April this year.

(Previously, it had only been extended to the third Sunday in March)

In this post, I’ll make history interesting by explaining why and how daylight saving time came about, and pointing out some funny facts you probably didn’t know.

The idea behind daylight saving time is to maximize our use of sunlight. Being a fair distance from the equator, New Zealand’s summer days are significantly longer than its winter days.

Shifting our clocks by an hour between spring and autumn results in more “after hours” recreational sunlight, as well as (arguably) a 3.5% reduction in power consumption.

“Invented” by Benjamin Franklin

“…my windows being accidentally left open, instead of letting in the light, had only served to let out the darkness…“ – Dr Benjamin Franklin, “inventor” of daylight saving time, in his letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, 1784

While it’s true that Ben Franklin is recognized as the source of the concept of daylight saving time, it wasn’t a great discovery, meticulously research and heralded in scientific journals. Rather, while in Paris, a sleepy Ben Franklin was accidentally awoken at 6am (instead of his usual noon), to discover his room lit with sunshine.

Consulting his almanac, he discovered (to his “surprise”) that the sun always rose early in the morning, and never later than 8am. This discovery led him, crazy economist that he was, to whip up some quick calculations on the savings in candles that would be made if Parisians woke up at sunrise, and went to bed shortly after dark.

“Awake the sluggards”

Franklin sent a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, explaining this idea, and suggesting the following tactics for “helping” stubborn Parisians to adapt:

1. A tax be laid on every window built with shutters to keep out the light of the sun.
2. Candles rationed to one pound per family per week, and the regulation enforced by the constabulary.
3. Guards posted to stop the passage of all coaches, etc. upon the streets after sunset except those of physicians, surgeons and midwives.
4. Every morning as soon as the sun shall rise, church bells and, if necessary, cannon shall inform the citizenry of the advent of light and “awaken the sluggards effectually and make them open their eyes to see their true interests … All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days; after which the reformation will be as natural and easy as the present irregularity. … Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is probable he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening.”

Early objections

According to an article from the Dominion Post, Daylight Saving Time desirable to about 80 percent of Kiwis in 2008, but this wasn’t always the case:

Dairy farmers maintained then that it would drive cattle mad and affect production. Others said hens would stop laying and lawns would turn brown.

Curtains and carpets would fade more quickly, it was claimed by the New Zealand-born Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

(Queenslanders all seem to be a bit sun-touched. Just a couple of years ago then Premier Peter Beattie opposed daylight saving on the grounds that it would lead to increased rates of skin cancer.)

“Spring Forward, Fall Back”

This little inanity is spouted by Kiwis whenever you ask “what must I set my clock to?”. It’s an easy way to remember that as daylight savings “activates” in spring, clocks are set forward one hour, whereas when it activates in the “fall” (autumn), clocks are set back.