14 SEPTEMBER 1907, Page 17

[To THE ED/TOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—The proposal to

advance the clocks in the kingdom from time to time during the early summer so as to obtain as much advantage as possible of daylight is too important a matter to be ridiculed out of discussion without full consideration. The main criticism against the proposal appears to be the difficulty of adjusting railway time-tables to the alterations of the clocks. Would not the easiest way be to make no altera- tions in the time-tables,—to have two times, one that of the clocks as adjusted, the other the railway time, which would be the real Greenwich time as at present ? As it came to the time of the year when the clocks fell to be altered, the railway time-tables would contain a footnote that in a given week the railway time was so much behind regulated time, much as penny time- tables contain at present the information that motorists and bicyclists should light their lamps at certain hours in the evening. It is of interest to know that at Loretto School, Musselburgh, the suggestion has long since been carried into practice. At least as far back as 1885, during the summer term, the school clocks were advanced half-an-hour, and the practice, so far as I know, has been carried out from that time to this ; nor am I aware that the alterations caused any serious inconvenience to any one of the fairly large community. At school we were in the habit of keeping in our minds that there were two times,—one the school time, the other the town or railway time.—I am, Sir, &c., O. L.