MUSICAL NOISES.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18407, 14 August 1931, Page 4

MUSICAL NOISES.

FAR-REACHING BY-LAWS. QUESTION OF CHURCH BELLS. WELLINGTON COUNCIL’S PROPOSAL Wellington gramophone and radio dealers are concerned at the sweeping nature of a by-law proposed by the City Council with the Intention of prohibiting noise which may cause annoyance in the streets, says the Dominion. The by-law, which was agreed to without discussion at the last meeting of the council, and has yet to be confirmed, appears to go beyond the mere restriction of musical demonstrations. Its prohibitions may be interpreted to extend to the ringing of church or auctioneers’ bells, or perhaps to the carillon. Even the playing of a gramophone on private property may be an offence if it chances to annoy anybody in the vicinity. Some of those objecting to the proposed by-law draw attention to the unrestricted traffic noise and to the noises of trade and industry.

Following are the by-law amendments as moved by Councillor H. A. Hugiglns, chairman of *the by-laws committee, at the first meeting of the council: —Prohibition against street noises: By-law No. 1 is hereby amended by adding after clause 14 thereof the following new clause:—“ 14a. (1) No person shall in any house, building, garden, land or other place abutting on or near any street, private street, or public place, sound or cause or permit to be sounded any musical instrument, gong, drum, bell, (gramophone, megaphone, or loudspeaker to the annoyance of any person in such street, private street or public place. (2) No person for the purpose of the advertisement of any trade or business shall on or within the hearing of persons on any street, private street or public place, sound or cause or permit to be sounded, any musical instrument, gong, drum, be.ll, gramophone, megaphone, or loudspeaker, without the permission in writing of the council. Such permission may be given in respect of one particular occasion or generally and shall be revocable at will. (3). Any permission granted pursuant to the last preceding sub-clause may be granted subject to any condition which the council may deem it advisable to impose, and any person availing himself of the permission so granted and falling to comply with any such condition, shall be guilty of an offence against this bylaw.”

Some Noisy Cities. A Wellington resident who knows some of the world's noisiest cities, said:— ” In London, Paris. New York, and most other large cities of the world there is a characteristic aural note which proclaims them to be cities, and ever so far away from the quiet countryside. ” In London it is the dull, even roar of the teeming traffic over the ■woodblocks, made chiefly by the endless stream of double-decked motorbuses, veined and shot by a thousand familiar cries—those of the newspaper sellers, the flower-girls, the toy-vend-ors, the shrill appeals of the dear old ladies who sd 1 violets and roses (according to season) in Piccadilly, the clamour of the street markets, the not untuneful calls of the fruit hawkers, the songsters and banjoists who entertain the long queues outside the theatres, the street bands, and, of course, the street organs. It all means —London I

” Paris is quite different. There are buses there, too, but not nearly so many. There the dominant note is given out by the air-bulb horns of the taxis. Electric horns are forbidden, so the old bulbs are still squeezed, and as no two are alike in tone, there is always a chaotic symphony of whirring sounds. Sometimes in the night you get perfect harmonies in these warning sounds, and it is not at all unpleasant. But when Paris is hot afoot, the bulb horn and the merry jabber from the numerous pavement cafes form a characteristic note. “ New York is moving to eliminate its noises, and no wonder. There, and in Chicago, the worst affliction Is the nerve-racking roar of the overhead trains and trams, and the ceaseless pandemonium of pneumatic riveters, noises that are calculated to try the nerve and fortitude of many by sheer persistence and dead cacophony. ’ Wellington Not Noisy.

Wellington is not by comparison a noisy city, but. the city councillors are evidently of the opinion that the place could be made less noisy. To enable them to do so they have passed a by-law on the question, one that takes no cognisance of the raucous noises of trade and industry, but is aimed directly at everything in the form of musical sound, even to the enumeration of the instruments that must not be played.

The by-law has still to be confirmed by the City Council, and is therefore not likely to operate for at least a month to come. It will be seen that the new by-law proposes even to prevent the ringing of bells in a private or public place, so that all auctioneers' bells, church bells, and even the carillon will be placed under a ban; and the person with a gramophone of suCl *ient power shall not be permitted to play it even in a private place If it chances to annoy anyone in the vicinity. There is likely to be some criticism of this by-law before It becomes operative from people who are directly interested in the creation of those rnusica| sounds to which objection is taken.