SUMMER VACATION

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 46, 26 March 1930, Page 6

SUMMER VACATION

Any new scheme that is likely to disturb the existing order of our daily lives is not likely to receive immediate and full publie support. Therefore we do not prophesy an early rearrangement of the Summer vacation as suggested recently by the Attomey - General, Sir Thomas Sidey. Nevertheless, the suggestion put forward by that ardent advoeate of daylight saving has much to commend it, and we feel sure that the ideas he has set out will receive widespread eonsideration and possibly instant .support throughout New Zealand. This has particular reference, of course, to the annual holidays of the children attepding our primary e and secondary .schools, but it might equally apply to all those who looli tq the end nf December and the month of J anuary as the most suit-" ahle time to enjoy a rest from their studies or their daily laboursSir Thomas Sidey suggests that the long Summer vacation should be held during February .and March, instead of, as at present, in December and January. ,It is a remarkable fact that, of recent years, the term "Summer" 'as applied to the period of . the customary vhcation has heen almost a misnomer. In all parts of New Zealand the conditions ;at this time of the year have hecome far from 'congenial, and it has been quite common for householders tp return to fires in the evenings in the period round about Christmas and the New Year. Nor has Hawke's Bay been immune in this -respect, for although in the past year Wintry conditions persisted well into the Summer months — in some parts of the country to a more niarked extent — Hawke's Bay received 'its fair share of unfavourable and .uncongenial weather. Undoubtedly 'Sir Thomas Sidey 's daylight saving scheme is each year gaining more universal support,, and we feel sure its successful operation will be sufficient grounds for its more permanent enactment at an early date. His new suggestion is a logical extension of the da,ylight saving scheme that is proving so popukr. So far as the holidays, of the 'Children' .are concerned, we would like to see the Hawke's Bay Education Board's view on the matter, for a lead from the educa- ' tional authorities is the -best test of the practicahility or otherwise of the scheme that has been brough't forward. So far -as it affects the business c'ommunity, -we have not the s'lightest doubt that the vacational. p'eriod will be arranged largely to work in with the holidays set aside for the school children. It is an undoubted fact that in recent years the weather during Eebruary and ' the early part of March is very trying to schbol .children, teachers and ' commercial people generally^ especially as the humid conditions that pertain -are frequently in striking eontrast to the weather experienced during the customary vacation. Sir Thomas .Sidey 's daylight saving scheme has prcved a great boon to the country, 'as a whole and must have a marked ■effect on the general health of the whole community. W-e believe his iiatest proposa'l, if practical so far as the working of- the educational system is concerned, would have iteueficial results in the health of the younger generation. Most people are largely bound by convection and generally opposed to radical changes, but this proposal has distinct advfinfcages that shouldihe fully weighed. .