SUMMER TIME Stn,—According to a report from the Berlin correspondent
of a leading London daily newspaper, many workers in Hamburg recently took part in a stay-in strike as a protest against the present inadequacy of food and as a reinforcement of a number of other demands. Curiously enough, one of these demands was that double summer time—which comes into force throughout Germany this week—should be cancelled, on the ground that it led to an unnatural mode of life and did further harm to health at a time when living conditions were already "catastrophic." In view of the fact that protests against the reintroduction of double summer time have been heard in this country and on similar grounds to those mentioned above, it may be of interest to give your readers the text of a document in the possession of the writer. It reads as follows: "Count Bernstorff, First Secretary to the German Embassy in London, gave an interview to Mr. — at the Embassy, Carlton House Terrace, on February 8th, 1930, on the attitude of Germany to what is called ' Summer Time.' " He said: " If the information is useful to your movement, I am pleased to help you and to tell you that the whole matter is quite simple, so far as Germany is concerned. Summer Time was imposed during the war as an emergency measure. Its disadvantages to the civil population then became evident, but for one year after the Armistice it was con- tinued as an experiment as England and France were continuing it. At the end of the trial it was found to be absolutely detrimental to public health and to economic prosperity. It was established beyond question that our vast farming industries, that is, general farming, dairy farming, horticultural farming, suffered financial loss through workmen starting too early and leaving work too early, and in other words working out of tune with natural conditions. It was a hardship on the workers themselves, involving loss of sleep, that is, the farm workers. In the mining industry especially there was ample proof that workers lost efficiency in turning out at unnatural hours. The serious effects on the health of children, one of the most important matters in German national life, was the final evidence needed to convince my countrymen that there were no benefits, only disadvantages, resulting from this alteration of the clock."—I am, Sir,
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