"RIGHT TO QUIET"

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 12 December 1923, Page 9

"RIGHT TO QUIET"

TO TBl EDITOR. Sir,—l was delighted to read your lead-' er on Saturday lasfc on the "Hight to Quiet." It is a subject that I have never previously seen brought forward. For the last quarter of a century I have looked 111 vain in- local bylaws for any evidence ot this important question ot noxious sounds being dealt with. The eyes and noses of council officials have hitherto been highly trained to detect offences having reference to those useful organs. Oui ears, however, have suffered quietly and patiently all these years with no one to champion their cause.

.Why should this be'?, Surely the sense "./.fl! « Just as closely connected with the bram aa the other When i. think of the amount of * unnecessary noise in modern cities I sometimes half envy the totally deaf. Why are so many roosters kept m backyards? My nearTV nA l?i b?V r,had a * least four of these delightful birds which screeched defiance to dietant backyard enemies, and waited lor reply throughout the night, as well as daytime. Another neighbour had aterrier that yapped shrilly day and night to.the great annoyance of all the neighbours. As tho dog was always chained up no could scarcely be blamed. • By the way, ; X hear that in Japan the police immediately arrest owner of such a useJess, pest. ' . < -, The motor noises you refer to are equalZ 1?^ 1" and largely unnecessary. My chief 'bete noir" is the motor cyclist, who travels, at high speed along, a main road on quiet, still evenings with his exhaust pipe unmuffled. , The noiee is deafening, and must be particularly unpleasant to invalids and to people with sleep- \\ th° City Council dropped the absurd ant,-pilhon riding affair and added Tfew anti-no.se^bylaws to their bylaw book I feel sure they would earn the gratitude o. many people (quite apart from invalids) who are like myself, lovers of quietness.----1 am, etc., • - on. n v ANTI-NOISE. 9th December.

. . TO THE EDITOR. ■Si r '~%? ardjng your article in tonight s 'Post," "The Eight to Quiet," after a severe nervous breakdown due to overwork, and not being able to get better, I decided to leave the town in which resided • to_Uvo in one of the healthy suburbs o' Wellington. I bought a nouse .standing alone in its own ground on. a h,U. The quiet was delightful, and the view all that could be desired, and I thought here I shall surely recover. Unfortunately I- failed to notice that in the gardens of the houses below me right against my fence, were two fowl yards, and tho window of.the bedrooms in my house are only a few yards from the fowl .yard (though the houses belonging to tho fowlyards are a good distance away). A I pwlyard is not a particularly pleasant tiling under a bedroom window, but when each; has a rooster or two, it's absolutely maddening to one suffering from insomnia They start one against the other at 2.45 a.m and keep it. going at intervals. I called at tho Town Hall to inquire if this would ;w,t come under the heading of a nuisance, but I won told they could keep 40 roosters if they wanted to; there was no bylaw to prevopl it Sloop is a great restorer to shattered nerves, and the continual crowing keew

mo from sleep and recovery from my illness. Those who make the bylaws do try to think of the public, or why should they forbid pillion riding, etc. but the annoyance and injury done to tho health of sick people by stopping their sleep is not considered. Surely it ie because the law-makers of this city have never thought pt tins. Surely some restrictions would be reasonable.—l am, etc., X.Y.Z. 9th December.