Daylight saving time in New Zealand

Starting in 2007, daylight saving time in New Zealand is observed from the last Sunday in September until the first Sunday in April.

From 30 April 2007, DST begins at 02:00 NZST on the last Sunday in September each year, and ends at 03:00 NZDT (or 02:00 NZST as defined in the Time Act 1974) on the first Sunday in April.

New Zealand time, including DST, is used by several Antarctic bases that are supplied from New Zealand. This results in the oddity that the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sets its clocks an hour further ahead during the southern summer, when the sun is constantly above the horizon, than in the southern winter, when the sun is constantly below the horizon. The extreme geographic position of the base means that no possible adjustment of the daily activity cycle can have any effect on the amount of sunlight received during those activities. However, the arrangement presumably makes real time communications with New Zealand more practical, particularly in dealing with offices.

The New Zealand dependencies of Cook Islands, Tokelau and Niue do not maintain DST. They are located the other side of the International Date Line and have 21–23 hours time difference to New Zealand.

History

Starting with 1909, the Honourable Sir Thomas Kay Sidey annually put forward a Bill to advance the clocks an hour from September to the following March and The Summer Time Act 1927 succeeded: first Sunday in November to the first Sunday in March. This proved unpopular so The Summer Time Act 1928 revised this to a half-hour shift from the 14 October 1928 (second Sunday) to 17 March 1929 (third Sunday), then The Summer Time Act 1929 fixed this half-hour shift to run from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March. In 1933, the period was extended from the first Sunday in September to the last Sunday in April. This continued until the Second World War, when emergency regulations in 1941 extended daylight saving to cover the whole year with annual re-applications until the Standard Time Act of 1945 made the abandonment of NZMT permanent in 1946, so that 180° becomes the base longitude and what was called N.Z. Summer Time (NZST) became N.Z. Standard Time.

The Time Act 1974 empowered the Governor-General to declare by Order in Council a period when Daylight Time is to be observed. This was a one-hour shift (on top of the earlier half-hour shift) from the first Sunday in November to the last Sunday in February, promptly changed the next year by The New Zealand Time Order 1975 which fixed the period of observance from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in March.

In 1985 a comprehensive survey was undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs. Public attitudes towards NZDT and its effects on work, recreation and particular groups of people in society were surveyed. The survey indicated that 76.2% of the population wanted NZDT either continued or extended.

The survey also concluded that opinion on the topic differed little between sexes, and that support for NZDT was generally higher in urban centres. Daylight saving was famously opposed in the small Northland dairy farming community of Ararua,^[1] which refused to adjust its clocks for some years. Support for shortening or abolishing NZDT was always in the minority in the areas surveyed.

As a consequence of the survey and further feedback from the public, in 1988 the Minister of Internal Affairs arranged for a trial period of extended NZDT to be held from the second Sunday in October 1989 to the third Sunday in March 1990. The Minister invited the public to write to him with their views on the five-week extension.

The Daylight Time Order 1990 declared that NZDT would run from 2 am NZST on the first Sunday in October to 3 am NZDT on the third Sunday in March.

On 30 April 2007 the government announced that it had extended the daylight saving period from 24 to 27 weeks. From September 2007, daylight saving is now observed from the last Sunday in September until the first Sunday in April.

See also

• Time in New Zealand

References

1. ^ "Ararua time". Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/timekeeping/4/3. Retrieved 6 February 2010.