Noise as a Public Nuisance At last it is coming
to be recognized in official circles, as elsewhere, that noises may be as much a " nuisance " to the public and as damaging to health as open drains or polluted water. At the conference arranged by the Anti-Noise League last week Mr. Geoffrey Shakespeare pointed out that local authorities have powers to deal with the more mischievous forms of sound vibration, though he would probably have admitted that they do not use them as often as they should. There are certain preventable forms of aggressive noise which ought to be stopped—such as that caused by pneumatic drills and motor-cycles without silencers. More difficult to abate are those arising from wireless, gramophones and other musical instruments. Houses and flats, as Mr. Ormsby- Gore pointed out, could and should be constructed more with a view to sound resistance than they are. But windows cannot be always shut. There will be no ,sufficient relief from modern instruments of torture until occupiers of dwellings are persuaded or compelled to consider their neighbours.
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