NOISY SYDNEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 5

NOISY SYDNEY.

COUNCILS IN A QUANDRY.

(From Our Own Corresponduut.)

SYDNEY, March 1. Before the Traffic Commission, in the columns of the press, and in querulous letters to the municipal councils, there has been a sudden awakening to the undeniable fact that Sydney is on e of the noisiest cities on the face of the earth, and that something ought to be done about it. The trams are among the biggest offenders. When they are rumbling along, especially at the peak hours, conversation between two people within easy reach is possible only by practically roaring at each other. Th© evil has extended even to the more populous suburbs, but the councils find that while they have certain useful legislative powers, the •tendency is to drag them into petty quarrels, arid to make them the arbiters of disputes between neighbours, about screeching birds, for example, or noisy tennis players, or amateur carpenters who get on the job immediately they have finished their dinner. The one case, however, a day or two ago, a council effectively stopped the noisy repair and adjustment of motor cars at unreasonable hours. The councils, fearing expensive litigation, are walking warily since it seems difficult to define legally an objectionable noise at an unreasonable hour.

As one authority facetiously, but logically, puts it, 4 o’clock in the morning would be _an objectionable hour for an enthusiastic Scot to practice on the bagpipes, or for, a flat dweller to wind up the gramophone, but, on the other hand, 4 o’clock in the morning would not be so objectionable if the noise • emanated from a milkman pursuing his lawful occasions.