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106
houses in the Borough there is no special law concerning
the emission of smoke, notwithstanding that
they are the chief source of the impurity of the
atmosphere which causes so much ill health. The
Borough also suffers in this respect from the fact
that several railway services pass through it and the
smoke of hundreds of locomotives is continually
being discharged to increase the foulness of the air
which residents breathe.
It is calculated that 1 cwt. out of every ton of coal
used in the ordinary domestic grate goes up the
chimney unconsumed and is therefore waste
to the householder as well as a cause of bad health
to the whole community. Dr. A. G. Ruston of the
Leeds University Department of Agriculture in a
speech at the National Smoke Abatement Society
Conference remarked that the smoke drift of London
is frequently seen by air pilots over the English
Channel and Northern France. Such a state of things
is a discredit to our civic intelligence and respect
and ought to be dealt with by the Government without
delay. The remedies are very obvious. Modern
science has placed at our disposal a variety of means
by which we may obtain lighting, heating and power
without either smoke, fumes or waste. There is no
reason why bad old methods should be tolerated any
longer.
NOISE.
We are still without legislation to deal with the
increasing evil of noise. From time to time residents
forward petitions to the Council complaining bitterly
of the injury to the health of their children and themselves
by loud industrial processes in their immediate
vicinity often carried on until far into the night.
The Council is compelled to give the official answer
that it has no legal power of control in the matter
but it is obvious that the position is profoundly
unsatisfactory. Admittedly there is a difficulty
in adjusting the relative claims of industrial firms