NOCTURNAL NOISES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3297, 16 August 1911, Page 7

NOCTURNAL NOISES.

- MAN driven to suicide by . INSOMNIA. * TERRIFYING INVENTIONS. William Henry Maxey, forty-one,-cof-fee-house manager, was indicted at. the Surrey Sessions with attempting to commit suicide by cutting his throat. • It was stated by counsel for prosecution that Maxey suffered from loss of memory and insomnia. He had been in, a very good position. Mr. Pearce, general manager of Lockhart’s refreshment caterers, said . the Maxey lived in a' very busy locality and. was much worried at night by the noise of the passing traffic, and was unable to skfip • Maxey banded in a written statement, in which he attributed liis act to insomnia, due to loss of sleep owing to the noise occasioned by passing mo-tor-omnibuses and l tram way-cans. On promising not again to make an attempt on his life he was bound over for twelve months. neidsß et eve rsmbe btvdl- • Residents in the quiet squares and streets of London who, like Sir Henry Morris, the distinguished Cavendish Square surgeon, complain of the sleepdestroying, brain-stabbing effect of the nocturnal ' motor horn may comfort their tortured wakeful 11011118 by the thought that their grievance may easily be mitigated if not wholly removed. The cause of complaint is twofold — the unnecessary frequency with which the nocturnal chauffeur sounds his warning hooter and the distressing variety of noises which the hooters emit. The Local Government Board has power to make regulations for the administration of the Motor-car Act such as would mitigate this latter ground of complaint. What administration can accomplish in this respect is shown by tlie effect of the regulations made by Scotland Yard in pursuance of their authority over motor-omnibuses and taxicabs. Clause 37 of the licensing conditions for taxicabs imposed by the police is as follows:

“An approved pattern horn having a single deep-toned note for giving audible warning of the approach of the cab must be provided.” Tlie effect of this regulation is shown by the fact that Sir Henry Morris blames not so much the taxicab drivers as the private chauffeurs for liis sleepless nights. Tlie deep toot-toot of the taxicab and the motor-omnibus, sonorous as it is. has not the earspotting, rileep-murdering quality of the various, makes of sirens and hooters which the lack of regulation permits other motor vehicles to use.

Tlie unrestricted inventor lias developed a. type of motor horn that was never contemplated when the Act was passed. The polite appeal of the early “teuf-teuf” being disregarded, newer kinds of motor horns were produced which \ were more effective because they spoke in a tone of command. “Please let me pass” with the force of the exhaust gases behind it became an authoritative “Out of my way! you, sir! confound you!” Perhaps the most ingenious of the terror-striking inventions is the exhaust siren with the rising note of increasing shrillness. It reproduces the effect of the whistle of an express train approaching with terrible rapidity. ' All these terror-striking sounds, even if they are not capable of suppression under the common law, are subject to administrative order by the Local Government Board.