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There are two time zones in New
Zealand. The two main islands of the country use
NZST (New Zealand Standard Time), twelve hours ahead
of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), while the
further away Chatham Islands employ CHAST (Chatham
Standard Time), twelve hours and forty five minutes
ahead of UTC.
Daylight saving time is observed during summer and
clocks are moved ahead by one hour. NZDT (New
Zealand Daylight Time) is therefore thirteen hours
earlier than UTC, and CHADT (Chatham Daylight Time)
is ahead thirteen hours and forty five minutes. |
NZST or NZDT is maintained in the Ross Dependency in
Antarctica, together with the Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station and McMurdo Station.
What’s more, there are New Zealand dependencies in the
Pacific Ocean, in 2 time zones that are different on the
opposite side of the IDT (International Date Line).
Tokelau and the Cook Islands are in the time zone of UTC
less 10 hours and observe no DST. The time in these areas
are therefore behind New Zealand by 22 to 23 hours.
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This boils down to the time in New Zealand less one day with
an additional 1 to 2 hours.
The time zone in Niue is UTC less 11 hours.
In 1868 on the 2nd of November, New Zealand formally
adopted a local time to be followed nationwide, and
was possibly the first nation to do so.
It was
founded on East of Greenwich with a longitude of 172
degrees and 30 feet, eleven and a half hours ahead
of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). This criterion was
known as the NZMT (New Zealand Mean Time).
During World War II in 1941, clocks were half an
hour advanced, which made New Zealand GMT plus 12
hours. |
This alteration was made lasting from 1946 by the 1945
Standard Time Act, at which 180°E meridian’s time was used
the basis for the time in New Zealand. NZST continued to be
NZMT plus half an hour, and the Chatham Islands NZST plus
forty five minutes.
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In the latter part of 1940s, the atomic clock was
formulated and many laboratories started atomic time
measurements. A new time measured called the UTC
(Coordinated Universal Time) was employed in 1972
globally. This was founded on the interpretations of
atomic clocks, modified sporadically in conformity
with time versions in the rotation of the earth by
the deletion or addition of seconds also known as
leap seconds.
The 1974 Time Act fixes the NZST (New Zealand
Standard Time) as UTC plus 12 hours.
Beginning in 2007, the observance in New Zealand of
daylight saving is from September’s last Sunday
until April’s first Sunday. |
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The 1974 Time Act authorized the Governor-General to
announce by Order in Council a phase when to observe
Daylight Time. This was a shift of 1-hour above the earlier
shift of half an hour from November’s first Sunday to
February’s last Sunday, readily altered the following year
by the 1975 New Zealand Time Order which determined the
observance period from October’s last Sunday to March’s
first Sunday.
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