WAR ON NOISE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1934, Page 14

WAR ON NOISE

THE ENGLISH CAMPAIGN

A NATIONAL CONFERENCE

MOTORS & AEROPLANES

The first Anti-Noise Conference in England opened at University College, Oxford, Lord Horder presiding. Although the Anti-Noise League has been in existence only a few months, the Oxford Noise Abatement Association, commanding influential support from both the university and the city, has

been in existence for some years and lias been instrumental in establishing many local regulations bringing about a diminution in noise disturbance. These efforts have been emulated in other parts of the country, says a writer in the "Manchester Guardian."

Oxford, for instance, was the first city to adopt the thirty-miles-an-hour speed limit, which has been of service not only in reducing road accidents but also in diminishing noise; and it was through this local association that distributors of milk were first encouraged to use pneumatic tires for their milk-carts —an example which has not been lost on other great dairy companies up and down the country, some of whom are gradually re-equipping their fleet with a view to securing silent delivery. There is, indeed, at work in Oxford a well-informed public opinion on the whole subject of needless noise. THE SPEAKERS. The public meeting after the conference was addressed by the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres and by Mr. Alister Mac Donald, son of the Primo Minister. An exhibition remained open during the whole of the conference, when delegates will be shown at least one model of a dwelling-house so insulated as to keep out noise- while permitting adequate ventilation. One of the most important functions of the league-is to give information that will assist builders and public authorities in securing the best means available for 'the erection of hospitals, schools, churches, and institutions, as well as our homes, planned for the prevention of noise. • . x In this work the league has already benefited by the co-operation of the recently founded Acoustic Department of the National Physical Laboratory. Dr. G. W. C. Kayo, its head, addressed members of the league at Oxford; Dr. Meyer, who is head of the HeinriehHertz Institute for Research into Wave Motion at the Berlin Technical College, and one of the leader's of the NoiseReduction Committee of the Association of German Engineers,' which corresponds in Germany to the Anti-Xoise League in England, also took part in the conference, and gave some report of experience in preventing noise in his country. NOISE AND HEALTH. But'this is not the only aspect of the problem to be dealt with. Shoals of complaints daily reach the headquarters of the league from every part of the country, The most frequent complaints concern noisy aeroplanes, loud-speakers, and gramophones in private dwellings, street noises—traffic and other —barking dogs, the chimes of big clocks on public buildings, and night-time motors for refrigerators in butchers' shops. In many cases it is not necessary to do more than address a tactful remonstrance to 'those concerned, but sometimes obscure questions of law arise in dealing with noises which may be jeopardising the complainants' hours of rest and quiet and thcreforo their health. The other two aspects of the problem—that of the effect on public health and that of industrial noise—are constantly before those who study the question; reports of medical officers of health in every part of the country nyer and over again emphasise the appalling effect of noise not only on the invalid, the nursing mother, the aged and the weak, but also on the daily worker, whether in the city or the factory, who imagines that because he has become used to the noise and vibration and clatter around him it docs not affect him. SUPPORTERS OF LEAOUE. Much propaganda work has already been achieved by the league, and at least one borough council has acknowledged the usefulness of such an organisation by agreeing to. subscribe annually to its funds and co-operating in the campaign; other important organisations, such as Rotary and the National Council of Social Service, are supporting the movement. ; The league has taken over a large number of hoardings formerly used by the Empire Marketing Board, and about 150 local authorities displayed posters urging people to join in the campaign. The British Medical Association has announced its support of the work of the league, and the British Association has appointed a special committee to deal with the noise problem. At the recent examinations set by London University for the B.Sc. degree, questions were sot for the first time specifically dealing with the problem of noise. Recently the London Passenger Transport" Board took a party composed of members of the league round its works at Chiswick, demonstrating somo of the efforts being made to eliminate the noise made by buses, especially from the exhaust, the tool-box, and the gears. The party wero delighted with the latest typo of bus, about to be put on the streets at the rate of eight per week; it seemed to he all that could bo desired as a silenced motor-bus. ' A little time ago • the Minister of Transport welcomed the league's chairman, Lord Hordcr, complaining against the noise of motor vehicles. With regard to inadequately silenced engines the league urged the necessity of fully enforcing the existing law and the strengthening of it in certain directions, including the suggestion that it should be made an offence to sell or supply a vehicle which did not comply with regulations,. and that a Court should have power to order the detention of vehicles which did not so comply. It was further urged that the Minister should tako power to specify the type of silencers to be used, and to prohibit the fitting of the cut-out. The league also ■ urged the desirability of regulating the type of motor-horn which might be used, both as to volume and stridency of note. What has been accomplished is merely a beginning, and a vast amount of work still remains to be done, for instance, in regard to the construction of dwelling-houses, hotels, and commercial buildings and aeroplanes. The activities of the league are limited, indeed, only by the extent of its financial resources. _^_^^_^____^_