17 AUGUST 1934, Page 3

The Nuisance of Pneumatic Drills A recently reported ease of

suicide attributed to the unbearable noise of pneumatic drills brings home to us the importance of lessening the nuisance of these most effective but horrible instruments for breaking up concrete roads. The noise usually produces deafness in the men employed in working them. Though the use of silencers has hitherto involved considerable loss of power, the right of contractors to deafen their workers and torture the public should never have been tacitly admitted. Happily a new type of silencer has been invented by which the noise of escaping air may be reduced by 00 or 70 per cent., with but small loss in efficiency, and sonic of the London local authorities are considering its adoption. It ought to be recognized that an aggressive noise of this sort is as much an assault as a blow in the face. No one would be allowed, in the interests of efficiency, to turn a hose on to the passing public. Then why a stream of hurtful explosive noise ? The use of effective silencers should be compulsory.