THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 7, 29 April 1914, Page 4

THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

Some two years ago an international conference was held in London to consider the best means of abating the smoke nuisance in large manufacturing cities. The conference appointed a committee, which, after two years' work, seems likely to collect some very valuable data for future experiments in bringing about some permanent reform. By mak " ing use of the material collected by the "Lancet" and the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, they have devised an apparatus for measuring atmospheric pollution, which has been adopted by the health'authorities of fifteen of'the largest towns in England, as well as by several of the London boroughs and the town of Hamburg, in Germany. So far no observations have been carried out, owing to the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of these soot and dust gauges, but it" is hoped that m avery short time observations of atmospheric pollution will be taken equal in accuracy and importance to those of the rainfall. Meanwhile the authorities in Glasgow have been doing some very useful work by holding classes for stokers and engineers. The teaching is both theoretical and practical, and it is intended to issue certificates to those pupils who have gone through a regular course. The average attendance at the Glasgow classes during the last four winters has been between one and two hundred, and the results are considered so satisfactory that the technical education authorities of many large towns and' cities are now including classes for stokers and engineers in their curriculum. In America the most instructive work has been accomplished at Pittsburg. Five bulletins have recently been published by a committee of 25 graduates and experts, who are investigating the nature and extent of the problem in that city. In one of the bulletins ' uiey have published an estimate of the losses incurred each year in Pittsburg from the smoke nuisance. The total for this town cf 350.000 inhabitants is just under two million pounds, of which the smoke-maker pays £300,000 for defective combustion ; the individual £150,000, in laundry and drycleaning bills ; the householder £466,000 for painting, cleaning, and decorating; shopkeepers £735,000 for cleaning, lighting, and depreciation; and the owners of offico buildings £43,000. In residential towns, of course, the best remedy is the substitution of gas and electricity, or some smokeless substances for coal, wherever possible.