NOISES IN SYDNEY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21924, 6 October 1934, Page 17

NOISES IN SYDNEY

CRY FOR TLAW OF SILENCE LONG-SUFFERING CITIZENS Thousands of Sydney citizens are prepared to testify that their city offers at least as much scope for the introduction of a law of silence for part of the 24 hours as any area under the authority of the member of the British Government who introduced it in England, says the correspondent of the Melbourne Argus. There are disturbing noises at all hours. Elimination of night noises is not sufficient; there must, say these critics, be suppression of some of the noises which make day a. nerve strain on the multitude. Not all can be suppressed, but the worst might bo lessened. The correspondent says:—"We possess the noisiest tram system in the world and, regarding the greater number of cars, the most uncomfortable and dangerous. The noise of these street railways is, as every visitor knows, appalling. It has led to citizens of modest mien shouting to each other as trams approach, and loud voices are therefore more common than they ought to be. Tram roar and rattle associated with the raucous voices of news vendors and the honking of cars constitute a burden from which there is no present escape. "A great help would be the removal of trains from the central streets, leaving motor-vehicles and the underground railway to meet all needs. Failing that, noise will have to be endured. The chimes of the Post Oflice clock were cut off at night many years ago on the representation of large residential hotel proprietors that the slumbers of patrons were disturbed."