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26
D. - SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA
Noise
The 'Noise Abatement' Act came into force this year. It is
designed to control and abate nuisances caused by noise and
vibration. Noise is an inevitable concomitant of ever-increasing
mechanisation, of bigger and faster vehicles of travel on land
and in the air, and of a quickening tempo of life. The portable
transistor radio set is fast becoming a normal appendage of one's
apparel just as a collar and tie used to be. With these
opportunities that modern age affords us for making bigger and
better noises it is small wonder that the time has now come to
consider the abat ment of sounds which are unnecessary, avoidable,
and which can be mitigated.
But in truth, to prove that a noise is a nuisance is bedevilled
with complexities. The threshold of tolerence to noise varies
enormously in individuals and what constitutes a pleasant sound
to one may be intolerable to another. To prove a nuisance must
therefore be subjective only, since no scientific evaluation of
noise nuisance has yet been devised. It will only be by long
experience of its actual working that the value of this Act can
be assessed.
There is no doubt that in certain circumstances noise can
become intolerable and a serious hazard to health.
Water
The authority responsible is the Metropolitan Water Board.
Close liaison in cases of suspected enteric fever still continues.
Mr. W. Richards, chief Public Health Inspector, contributes
the following:-

* Includes notices outstanding from previous year
Of the 739 Intimation Notices served. 144 were in respect of business
premises and the remainder (595) related to defects in private houses.