BROOKLANDS AND ITS NOISES

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

BROOKLANDS AND ITS NOISES

NEIGHBOURS ASK THE COURTS TO y/ GRANT AN INJUNCTION. An* action for an injunction to restrain an alleged: nuisance in the Brooklands motor racing track Was commenced recently before Mr. Justice Parker. . The plaintiffs were Mr. Charles Joseph Dams, of Walpole House, and Mr. Thomas and Miss Lucy Meares (brother and sister), of The Summit, adjoining the course, and the defendant was Mr. Hugh Forte Locke King, upon whose estate the track has been established. Their chief complaints were of the noise from motor-cars and motor-cycles in the private road, in the garages, and on the track,, noise from the

crowds of people who congregate, fumes from the cars and cycles, which made the use of their gardens impossible and life within the house unbearable. The smell, they said, was of such a character that it affected the vegetation, rendering raspberries uneatable, and the nose and tiiroat of the people living in tbefA houses. The dust was an intolerable infliction, as were the crowds of undesirable hawkers of racing literature and ginger-beer. Mr. Upjohn, K.C., for the plaintiffs, said Mr. Locke King established tliis track on his Brooklands Estate at a cost of about £250,000. It was not only used for racing, but any owner of a motor, by paying Hi, could go upon it and kill himself and his friends. One or two had succeeded. Last June Mr. Edge accomplished his 24-hour record-breaking ride, and Mr. Meares had a sleepless night. He wrote an indignant letter to Mr. Locke King, who, in reply, sent him two tickets for the next race meeting with his compliments. . (Laughter,) At each race meeting the private road was a perfect pandemonium, and an additional nuisance was that the track was used on Sundays by members of the club, and the plaintiffs were prevented from spending a nice quiet weekend in this lovely neighbourhood. Mr. Thomas Meares, a, solicitor, said he had a lively recollection of the night of Mr. Edge's ride. The motorists had a picnic, and were apparently having a good time, the popping of.rorjj^;.-' "'■'-'; ' " SUNDAY LANGUAGE. - They welcomed arriving cars with shouts, and saluted departing cars with cheers and the blowing of horns. The loafers saluted the early morn with the most awful language. (Laughter.) They were clever fellows, who let out portions of the heath to people to stable their motors on. (Laughter.) The noise from the track was simply appalling. The road was strewn with advertisement orange peel, cigar and cigarette ends, and other rubbish. Once a car caught fire and was burnt out. On July 19 ne was treated to the "tuning up " of a motor in the garage, which sounded like the noise of a boiler factory. The following day an altercation proceeded at his gate between a loafer, who had taken possession of a motor-car, and the owner 'of it, who had to pay the loafer 2s 6d before be could get his car. After each race day he had a sore nose, sore throat, and headache, and was wholly unfit for mental work. Continuing his evidence Mr. Meares said he could not live at his house, and had taken his sister away. In cross-examination by Mr. Dickens, K.C., he said he certainly objected to the noise of the motors on the track on Sundays, although it was not appalling. He admitted a noticeable improvement in the explosion noises since the authorities had insisted on silencers being used, but he could still hear the cars running all round the track. Reading from his note made in October, witness said his entry ran: —' " Awoke at 3.45 a.m. by what I imagined to be a racing car passing down the private road, accompanied by the usual loud explosions. About 7.30 a.m. the tuning up of the cars began. Noise for nearly an hour most distressing. I left house before nine a.m., and went to town." It was impossible for'ladies, to sit in his garden on Sundays, added the. witness. Tho language used in. the yard on Sundays would not be tolerated on the high road, by. ; the police. . •"".'. ".. RASPBERRIES AND PETROL. . • . . Miss Lucy Meares, describing the two days in June last, when Mr. S. P. Edge broke all records, said she was miserable. Cars were coming and going all night. There'was a picnic in the yard, on to which her bedroom looked. The motorists were , very cheerful and ■ very contented. She ' did not get to sleep till six a.m. At the end of the second day she felt knocked up, and found herself suffering from sore throat and nose. The home smelt of motors, and the fumes were suffocating. Miss Me&re's note of the first day's race meeting was:

" Cars commenced to arrive at 6.30 a.m. Deafening noise, dust, unci smell all day. Road blocked at times. ■ Car on tire."

On the following day the raspberries from the garden tasted of petrol. . Mr. Dams, giving evidence, said he selected Weybridge to live at because he; wanted a quiet district. The fumes and noise were, however, so great that on race meeting days the house was uninhabitable. His residence cost £7500 to build, to say nothing of architects' fees and the cost of laying out the land. "One night, afc about a quarter-past eleven," he said, " when all respectable people are supposed to bo in bed, there, was a series of terrific explosions outside my stable gates, I went outside to remonstrate, and was met with a, very warm reception by six chauffeurs." Witness said lie had been in the habit of inviting friends down for weekends, but this was now out of the question. Mrs. Dams said that Weybridge used to be a lovely quiet spot, but now there was no getting away from the hideous motor-cars. Since the track was opened she had suffered in health. John Wood, a. gardener,*said that the racing cars made a noise like thunder, which caused the chickens to rush round the run, the cats to fly up the trees, and the dogs to bark. The hearing was adjourned.