Two timing

Vanuatu

Pacific time is notorious but it is consistent consistently late. Vanuatu

time is consistently confused. In the last few months the new government of Vanuatu has finally abolished the Summer Time Act which introduced daylight saving and brought to an end months of utter confusion in Port Vila.

Normally Vanuatu used to introduce

daylight saving at the beginning of

October and it would continue throughout the southern summer months. The government of Fiji is also considering the introduction of sum mer time and the lessons from Vanu atu may be worth considering. In developing countries the concept of

daylight saving is problematic especi

ally in urban areas where a large portion of the population living on the edge of town have no electricity.

Daylight saving meant man) workers who would have to be at work in Vanuatu at 7.30 am every day would have to wake up in the dark in order to be able to arrive to work on time.

In the tightly censored press in Vanuatu this was one of the few complaints that the government run newspapers were permit ted to print. As a result, the new govern ment decided to abolish the Summer Time Act. However, according to government sources there was insufficient time for parliament to pass legislation at the beginning of the summer time period in 1992. As a result the government an nounced its intention to repeal the act at

the earliest possible moment but neverthe less changed the clocks in late 1992. The trouble occurred when the government changed the clocks but in order tc demonstrate its seriousness about the re pealing the act it allowed the public servants to stay on the old time. The pandemonium that followed was some thing that brought back memories of the many similar absurdities of the colonial condominium when Vanuatu had twc colonial governments.

All hell broke loose in October 1992. Government began at 8.30 and continued to 12.30 for the lunch break. The private sector which moved on to summer time began at 7.30 and finished at 11.30. Memos flew left, right and centre trying to explain to con fused government employees what was going on and what time it really was. Parents with one child in government school and another in private school were late for work. At the docks at Port Vila you either had customs officers with no customs agents or vice versa. After three months ol chaos the government finally repealed the summer time Act and Vanuatu has now happily returned to Pacific Time. □