The TRUTH ABOUT MOTORS

NZ Truth, Issue 1261, 30 January 1930, Page 8

The TRUTH ABOUT MOTORS

YEA, 'TWAS EVER THUS!

They Complained of Vehicle Noise One Hundred Years Ago

RATE-CUTTING IN OLD DAYS

Those who write, the Press complaining of noisy motor vehicles invariably overlook the important aspect •' of public convenience. Apparently it was ever thus, for the ancestor of present day taxis, the hackney coach, came m for criticism, being assailed for its noise arid trade losses, while rate cutting also prevailed even m "the good old days."

DUBLIC convenience, however much 1 .it may be opposed at first, invariably, triumphs m the end -over private interests, according to one historian of curious- facts, commenting on the increase m hackney cpachesyin land.In 1634, he -says, there were four of' them m London belonging to a certain Captain Bailly. By 1637 they had increased so rapidly that their number was confined by law to 50, m 1652 to 200, m 1659 to 300, m 1662 to 400, m 1694 to 700, m 1710 to 800, and m 1771 to 1000. "Indeed, if he had gone on and could have lived to continue his cipheringdown to 1929, the figures must have overwhelmed him, For example, if we go back a few years tp April 1, 1639, we find ,one, Mr. Garrard, writing m London to. Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, then lord-lieutenant of . Ireland: — "I cannot omit to mention a new thing that has cpme amongst us, though it may seem trivial. ;; Here is one, Captain Baily, he 'hath been

a sea captain, but now lives on the land, about this city, where he tries experiments. "He -hath erected, according to his ability, some four hackney coaches, put his men m livery and appointed them to stand at the Maypole m the Strand, giving them instructions, at what rate,' to carry men into; several parts of the town, where, all ' day, they may be hired. "Other hackney men, seeing this way, flocked to the same place and performed the journeys at the same rate, so that sometimes there be 20 of them together, which disperse up and down... "Everybody is much ( pleased with 'it; for, whereas before coaches could be had but at great ratep, now a. maii may have one much cheaper." But everybody did not remain • pleased for very long. Londoners began to make complaints almost , immediately regarding the noises ' that the coaches made m the streets. A certain individual named . Taylor, a boatman, whose busi- . ness had been seriously cut into, voiced his complaint m the public prints. . . "I pray you, but not the streets, and the chambers or lodgings m Fleet Street or the Strand," protested Taylor, 'how they' are, pestered with coaches, especially after a masque

or a play at the court, where even the very earth shakes and trembles, the casements shatter, tatter and clatter and such' a confused noise is made, as if all the devilsy were at barleyr break, so that a- man can neither sleep speak, hear, write;' or eat his dinner or supperj quiet for 7 them; besides, their tumbling din (like a counterfeit thunder) doth sour wine, beef and ale most abominably, to the impairing of their healths that drink .it, and the making of many a victualler trade;falien." „ " . Taylor, however, ' seemed at least to be able to write: — . "A coach," he went on, "like a heathen, a pagan, an infidel or an athiest, observes neither Sabbath nor holiday, time nor season, rpbustiously breaking through the toil, or, net of divine and human law, order and authority, and, as it were, condemning all Christian conformity, like a dog. that lies on a heap of hay, who will eat none of ■it himself nor suffer any other beast to eat any." The noise was such that it m

terfered with public worship; "To avoid which they have set up a cross-post m Cheapsie, on' Sundays, near Wood Street end, which makes the ' coaches rattle and jumble on the other side of the way further from the church and from hindering of their hearing." In the march of progress we hail the modern taxi, as a public convenience, notwithstanding the fact that numbers of them may aid traffic congestion or create noise. This story shows that even hundreds of years back there were people who would fine" 1 a reason to object to anything, and if the same species exist- about a similar length of time m the future,' there seems to be 'some justification for that oft-heard expression, "there will be narks m heaven."