The Time’s a-changing

Next week, on March 18, New Zealand returns to standard time. Next year, things could be different.

Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of lobbying to extend Daylight Saving Time, including a petition signed by some 30,000 people. As a result, the government is considering several options, including a permanent change to Daylight Saving next year, having it start earlier, having it end later or a combination of the last two.

Americans who have just gone through changes to their Daylight Saving Time may be wondering why we’d bother. For us, it’s really all about the weather.

At the moment, we go onto Daylight Saving Time the first Sunday in October and end the third Sunday in March. The summer weather doesn’t really kick in until sometime around late January/early February. The weather in March is often the most settled and the time when we’d really like to have longer evenings.

Which brings up another point: School years. New Zealand school years end just before Christmas and the new school year begins early February. That means that January is the main month of summer holiday for kids, and it’s also the rainiest month of summer (think kids stuck inside with “nothing to do” for days on end). They go back to school just in time for the two hottest months—February and March—when it’s also sunnier and drier. So, it’s also been proposed that the school year be changed and the summer holidays shifted to sometime during the hot months of February and March.

What’s interesting about both the proposals is that they have support (or, at least, a lack of opposition) from sectors who would normally oppose them. Dairy farmers support a change in Daylight Saving Time (as long as it’s at the end, not the beginning). Similarly, businesses support a change to school holidays, saying businesses can cope with employees taking annual leave at that time, as they do now.

At the moment, it appears there will be a change to Daylight Saving Time next year. Changes to school holidays may take longer because some in the educational establishment seem to be opposed to it or, at least, want more extensive consultation.

At any rate, early Sunday morning, Match 18, New Zealand will put its clocks back one hour.