WHISTLE WORRIES

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 149, 21 December 1945, Page 6

WHISTLE WORRIES

TELLING,THE TIME

ATTACK ON TRADITIONS

From the polite little dots that peep unobtrusively into 2YA's broadcast programmes at appointed hours to the sad regret in Wellington's new waterfront siren or the eldrich shriek of Auckland's counterpart is a long step which bestrides a multitude of audible time-tellers, as varied in their nature as they are in the degree of their welcome.

The Wellington Harbour Board, having got off steam—any reference to the board's Price Tribunal applications is purely coincidental —has installed an electric siren in place of the erstwhile steam whistle to mark the beginning and end of labour within its orbit, and some board members are as full of re-1 grets about it aesthetically as the of-, fending installation sounds in practice. But it could be worse. < There is a tradition in timber mills and many other factories that says the only right and proper indication of starting and stopping times for employees shall be a steam whistle. This has" its points as a utilitarian concept, for the whistle penetrates the confusing i jumble of innately noisy machinery and activities as nothing else would in a wide-sprawling establishment. Further back still, the mill whistle where bush is being felled tells the men a mile or so away in the tall timber when it is tucker time just as accurately as the empty feeling in their own stomachs. BABIES' TUNING FORK. But this whistle business can be carried a little far. There is in mind the smaller establishment where an inside bell would be just as effective as far as staff is concerned. That would obviate the chorus of frightened and wakened babies in neighbouring homes for which unnecessary whistles are the tuning fork. In any case, many factory whistles are so far off the correct minute that they are worse than useless, if kindly intended to indicate to householders who hear them that it is train, tram, or bus time. If the kind thought of acting as local time-teller was in mind when extraordinarily loud whistles were installed in extraordinarily small factories which could be as well served internally by an electric bell or two, the factory owners may be forgiven. But to advertise the wrong time where things run to schedule is liable to lead to hard feelings when the only certain thing the natives of the neighbourhood can safely deduce is that the' workers in the factory are knocking off for morning tea or starting work after lunch. And who outside of the factory cares about that? , ' . ' An installation early this year that probably caused a» much amusement as irritation in the neighbourhood was that at the new—and* only—factory at Tawa Flat, a kiln with a joinery attached. When the buildings were nearly complete and the chimney stack showed signs of life, one calm morning there was heard from that direction a sound as >of a ship blowing off steam. That was all. Minutes went by and a few more gasp:, were heard. IMPROVEMENT NOTED. Days went by and, the initial laryngitis having evidently abated somewhat, a sort of whistling noise became shyly mixed up with the steam-blowing process as the gadget was tested at all sorts of odd times. Weeks went by, and eventually the would-be whistle settled down to a fairly consistent noise reminiscent of the rales of bronchial asthma or something equally distressing. When work started inside the. factory the whistle did its duty about 8 a.m., about 10 a.m., about 10.10 a.m., about noon, and . so on till quarter to five (about). For the first few months it was given apparently a test run occasionally, after adjustments, but the agonies of a lad whose voice; is just breaking continued to be ■ faithfully represented by Tawa. Flat's timepiece. THOUGHT WAP WAS OVER? It still battles bravely on in lieu of a bell or two, and in spite of Lr.M.i., but it would be missed if removed, now that it has become part of the life of the little valley. Its most amusing break was a few months ago when it pooped off at 11.25 o clocK one night and the valve seemed to stick open. Half the population must have thought the war was over., r Being installed at a timber factory, this whistle is just as much < -in. the tradition of the industry as bells are in the tradition of churches and schools. Nevertheless, tradition has received a knock or two in the last generation. Many a lonely.. - church has no bell.to prompt the faithful and many a school has replaced the dear old tolling bell'with a clangorous electrical installation or even a referees whistle blown apoplectically by the. headmaster in the school grounds.

Wellington's disapproving Harbour Board members must bow before what is called progress, even if it costs them twinges every time they hear a moan from the waterfront. Perhaps even the sad day will come when wandering sheep and cows, instead of the already infrequent bells at their necks, will carry a pack set transmitting intermittent location signals to radar sets in the home base.