Why this fails:
set testing to do shell script "ntpq -np"
display dialog testing
The first line of the man description says: “The ntpq utility is used to query NTP servers which implement the recommended NTP mode 6 control message format about current state and to request changes in that state.” [my bolding]. Are you sure the server is compliant?
After i enabled “Set date & time automatically” in date & time pref pane, it started to work.