Wellington, April 2, 2022
New Zealanders will set their clocks back by one hour at 3 am, which will become 2 am on Sunday, April 3, 2022.
This is the Daylight Saving System whereby clocks are reset twice a year- one hour forward on the last Sunday in September at 2 am (to make it 3 am) and on the first Sunday in April.
Daylight saving is claimed as a New Zealand invention, first put into place here in 1927, although it is said that the system was put into practice earlier by an astrologer and entomologist who liked the idea of having more time for his hobbies.
Views around the world
It has been variously championed as a way to better make use of daylight hours to help save energy on heating and lighting, to time sleeping and waking to the sunlight better, to help farmers get more done during daylight hours, and to give children more time to play outside.
However, detractors say switching sleeping patterns about creates more wear on people’s well-being than it’s worth, and the energy savings are minimal.
In March, the US Senate voted to make daylight saving permanent in the United States from next year, meaning clocks will not be changed twice a year. The change still has to pass the House of Representatives and signed by President Joe Biden.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Union Parliament voted in 2018 to scrap Daylight Saving permanently, but the progress of the decision, and agreement about which bodies and countries will ratify it and what time they will settle on, have stalled with the pandemic.
Time to check smoke alarms
Fire and Emergency community readiness manager Steve Turek said that checking smoke alarms is easy and should actually be done once a month, but the beginning and end of daylight saving time were a good calendar reminder.
Batteries should be checked, and alarms’ test functions should be run to see that they were working.
The Fire and Emergency Department recommends having an alarm in every bedroom, living area and hallway, and for families to have an escape plan and meeting point. All rental houses must also now have smoke alarms.
Not all smoke alarms or batteries are the same, and the Fire Service explains more about its recommendations on its website.
-Published under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
