THE SILENT MOTOR CYCLE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1244, 19 February 1914, Page 30

THE SILENT MOTOR CYCLE.

The Christchurch City Council has taken up a decided stand against two of the greatest nuisances of the modern road —the odour and the noise of the motor traffic. The proposed by-laws, which have received the preliminary approval of the city council of the city rightly called the city of the chassis, contains a clause which will be greatly appreciated by the long-suffering citizen. The clause is to prevent the use of any cut-out or other apparatus allowing the exhaust gases to escape direct into the atmosphere. There is absolutely no real reason why a motor cycle should make any noise at all, for the modern s'lencer is a most efficient device, and the back pressure, or loss of power, is practically nil, and the hiy-law which enforces this reform will he hailed with delight in many places. The bv-laws forbid overloading of any motor vehicle, and state that the driver of any licensed motor vehicle “must be clean and tidy, and wear clean and respectable clothes.” Neither must they smoke or lounge when on duty, nor tout for fares. The remarks cf the taxi drivers on the latter by-law could not appear in cold print. It is proposed to stop all youths under sixteen from driving motor cars or riding motor cvcles. Speaking as president of the Canterbury Automobile Association, Dr. W H. Simpson said that he thought al' the proposed by-laws were dist/nctly good. “There is nothing very drastic about them,” he said. “Most of them were in force in London when I was there. The clauses relating to noise and smoke are, I tlrnk, reasonable; the age limit is necessary, although in England a boy of fourteen may ride a motor cycle; the rules for the conduct of licensed drivers are, some of them, new to me, but I think they are needed. As regards the production of certificates, the regulation is in force elsewhere, and it will be well for Christchurch to come into line. We want to stop furious driving, and other nuisances, quite as much as the

city council does,” concluded the Automobile Association’s president. “Our desire is to see motoring go ahead; and we know that it cannot do that

unless public opinion is behind it.”