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67
Summer Time Act.
Report on the Effect of the Summer Time Act
on the Health of the School Children in the Area .
Great difficulty is experienced in making an enquiry
into the effect of the Summer Time Act on the health
of the school children, because there are no definite
standards by which we can compare conditions under
the Summer Time Act with those previous to the passing
of the Act. It is the lack of standards of comparison
which has led to the very erroneous conclusions being
made, especially by those whose minds have been
influenced by a certain amount of bias.
Opinions of the Teachers.—All the teachers in the
Public Elementary Schools were asked if they had
noticed any effect of the Summer Time Act on the
alertness and response of the children. Nineteen
out of 24 head-teachers stated that they had noticed
no difference in the attention displayed by the children
to school work since the Summer Time Act came into
operation. Two head-teachers of Infants' Schools
were emphatically of opinion that the Act had adversely
affected the children, one head-teacher of an Infants'
School was not quite decided in her mind, but thought
the children were more sleepy in the mornings as a
result of the earlier hour of rising ; one head-teacher
of a Girls' School and one of a Boys' School were inclined
to believe that the Act had the effect of depriving
a number of children of some of their sleep. Of these
five teachers, none were able, even the two who were
so decided in their opinions, to point out the children
who they considered adversely affected. These five
teachers all said they had noticed the adverse effect,
but they could give no names of children whose home
circumstances could be investigated to discover whether
the want of alertness and response were due to other