Daylight saving starts Sunday

Daylight saving begins again on Sunday morning.

The Department of Internal Affairs said clocks should go forward an hour at 2am to become 3am.

It was also a good time to check household emergency plans and smoke alarms, Internal Affairs said.

The extra hour of daylight in the evenings would run until April 4, 2010.

New Zealand moved to an extended period of daylight saving in 2007, after a petition from United Future leader Peter Dunne and Nelson city councillor Mark Holmes .

Daylight saving officially began in 1975 when clocks were put forward for an hour from the last Sunday in October until the first Sunday in March.

- NZPA