Except in Newfoundland,
Half an Hour Later

by

Harold Richman

When you listen to the CBC, the announcer will often give a time for a programme and will usually say, "Except in Newfoundland where it will be heard one half-hour later'. It always sounds like Newfoundland is adrift in the Atlantic and is trying to catch up to the rest of Canada. How did Newfoundland end up with half a Time Zone?

Until about 100 years ago there were no Time Zones. Every community set their own time by the sun. When the sun reached the highest point in the sky it was 12 noon. This is probably how theexpression 'high noon' came to be. Since high noon is different fo r every location as you move around the world there was an infinite number of different times.

When travel was by horse and carriage, the distance travelled at six miles per hour could be 100 miles in one day, so there would not be a very noticeable change in time. However, when the steam engine was introduced and railways were built, the differenc e in time was significant. Railway time tables were impossible to keep.

In 1879, a Canadian called Sandford Fleming, invented Standard Time. He proposed that the world should be divided into 24 equal Time Zones, the time within each zone to be the same rather than vary from community to community. The railways were the first to adopt the idea and by 1890 all countries had adopted the Standard Time system. Prior to that the USA had 300 local times. Fleming was knighted in 1897 for his idea. (Probably 'nighted' would have been more appropriate in this instance.)

Each Time Zone contains 15 degrees of longitude. The first Time Zone is located at Greenwich in England, so every 15 degrees from Greenwich is the start of another Time Zone. The centre of
Newfoundland is located at 56o longitude. This is where two time Zones meet. Since each province prefers to have only one Time Zone, this presented a dilemma for Newfoundland. Which Time Zone should Newfoundland join? In a typical Canadian compromise they formed their own Time Zone which is half an hour different from any other in the whole world. As you will see, this was entirely unnecessary.

During WWI, Daylight Saving Time was introduced as a conservation measure. It has been estimated to save 1% of electricity usage each day. During WW II Daylight Saving Time was in effect year-round until September 30, 1945. Daylight Saving Time is not compulsory. Some provinces and states, such as Saskatchewan and Arizona remain on Standard Time all year 'round.

Why does Daylight Saving Time save energy? If you use sun time, high noon is at 12 o'clock. There are as many hours of daylight before noon as after noon, so if there are 16 hours of daylight, the sun would rise at 4 a.m. and set at 8 p.m. Since people usually go to bed around 11 p.m., they would beusing lights for about three hours. When Daylig ht Saving Time is used, the sun rises at 5 a.m. and setsat 9 p.m. so lights are used for only two hours at night. Most countries now use Daylight Saving Time,which changes the time by an hour, without any difficulty. So it is obvious that Newfoundland cou ld have chosen one of the normal time zones and not be the odd man out.

When Standard Time was introduced, many people objected because sun time seemed to be theproper time. It had some mystical significance. Sun time was invented by man, so it could also be changed by man.