NOISY NEW YORK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 2919, 15 September 1908, Page 3

NOISY NEW YORK.

#For a long while past New York his earned the, reputation of being the noisiest city in either hemisphere. By no means is it the roar of the elevated railway which alone makes life in that metropolis an incessant strain upon the human nerves. It see is to have been a generally accepted proposition that unless the New Yorker shouts nobody listens to him, and that no form of human endeavour appears to be ai success unless it is accompanied by a racket of one kind or another. This strenuous mode of existence has shown such a tendency to increase that the more •■eldery and restful, and less aggressive members of the community, have risen in indignation, and have demanded that the authorities should •do something to abolish unnecessary noises in the city, which have been 'fast driving the population to desperation. To the general delight of thousands of people, Mr Bingham, the Commi»aioner of Police, issued a special order recently, instructing the police to use their authority, tact, good sense, and discretion in suppressing tha nerve-racking uproar of the :st eets. The following is the Cornanissioner's list of objectionable noises, which he means, if possible, t> abolish. ' Needless yelling by street hawkers. Unnecessary blowing of stam-boat whistles. Uoller-sicating "on the foot-pave-ments. Whistles on peanut roastes. Exaggerated automobile honlciioiking, Allowing an automobile exhaust to •escape without adequate silencing. Horn blowing or bell-ringing gen*r illy. Yelling .of old clothes men and 'faked newspaper extrats. Kicking tin cans in the street. Yelling of carriage at theatres and hotels. Noisy dogs. It is certainly an astonishing list, ~ 'but no Englishman who has never ft spent a few weeks in New Yorlc can have the faintest idea of what the authorities have permitted hitherto in th j name of the personal liberty l of the individual. Although much noise is made by children in the streets, it is not the intention of the Commissioner to enforce harsh mea•sliresto compel quiet unless the noise is inexcusable. i One of the mo3t flagrant abuses is tha tootint? of the sirens and horns j of automobiles without any apparent purpose. There are districts of the city where or more likely chauffeurs on their own excursions, make night hideous by their uproar. Those who live in the neighbourhood of garages have often been subjecte.l to tortures of this kind. Chauffeurs will give salutes on the motor-horn for the purpose of arousing the watchman at the garages, or as signals for friends to come and ride with them. The opening of the silencer to the exhaust ia another aleep-murdering diversion on the part of drivers of motor-cars. As Mr Bingham truthfully and sensibly observes: The police force of New York can put a stop to a large proportion of the noises which torment the entire population. Not only is it a matter of health and happiness that all the people of New York should be disturbed at night as little as possible, out there are also thousands of night workers in the city who must sleep in the daytime. It ia part of the duty <if thepolice force on patrol as general protectors of the public to see that at lea3t all unnecessary noise is ■ supprf s.«e l.