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THE SMOKE NUISANCE.'
NEED FOR ABATEMENT.
REGULATIONS BEING PREPARED.
Attention is now being given by too Vie-
lorian Health OoinmiMsion to toe question
of tin- abatement of too sinoko nuisance
»i AlelViounie. At the . present momenL
draft, regulations .under the Health Act
are being prepared which, it is hoped, will
have some effect in ridding tiie metropolis
of the smoke which, . in cvr.r-mcreKsmg;
clouds, pours from factory and. other chim
neys in every industrial area. '11 le ncwl
for senne drastic action on (he port of the
authorities is certainly long owrdwc, and
as almost daily beoomifig more urgent. Mel
bourne is fast developing into a city of
smoke clouds, capable of rivalling some of
the big 'manufacturing 'dues of the old
world, where dark and sooty clouds are
the commonplaces of life. Although atten
tion. has been drawn to the nuisance time«
without number, nothing has yet been
done to cope with it. Yet JHclboiirne
should be. a city of clear akica, bright sun
shine and unpolluted air.
To-day (he visitor approaching the city
from «St. Kilda-road on a windless, heavy
day, and, for choice, in tho late afternoon,
might almost imagine that he was enter
ing the outskirts of London, where log
and smoke are accepted as the natural
order of things. On every side dense
clouds of murky smoke — black, brown and,
grey— drift across the buildings, And unfold
themselves iu lazy coils beneath the cloud',
smearing the -sky and dimming the sun
light. From the industrial areas tall-chim
neys belch their dark columns ot' soot
and dirt unchecked; and as far as the
eye can set!, these columns rise, mingling
together, until the atmosphere i» hay
and dusty, aud >lelbourne itself is wrapped
in a pall of dirt. When viewed from a
distance — from the heights around Kew.
for example — the effect is equally start
ling. Black plumes of smoke stream from
hundreds of chimneys, now unfolding tii
inky coils, now dissolved hy the wind into
a general imirldne«i, -which might welJ be
described as tbe 'big smoke" of Mel
bourne. The housewife living in the neigh
borhood of tho-% belching aniokn stocks
needs no instruction in tiie evil of the
smoke nuisauce. Her curtiiins are be
grimed with soot: clothes and collars need
more freqoeut washing; tbe house itaHf
quickly becomes dusty and dirty; aud the
cxtei-ior a £ buikUiiga is coated with grime.
But apart from these very tangible effects,
medical and civic authorities have taog
been aware that the smoke nuisance is
a meuace to the gencr.d bcaMh of the
eonununity. The soot which is poured out,
froin faeUny cbinaneys corrfew many in-"
jurious compoimds vuitU it, and acts, too,
as a carrier of dumnafi, polluting tiie at-
mospbcie, which should be cleau atid
heal to giving.
Strikpng evidence on this pa'mt w as
given recently by Jir. C. \V. Salesby before
tiie British De)>artmcutol Committee of
the Ministry of Heaitii, deaUng with sm#ke
iind noxious fumes aJxiieinoiit. "Tf you
would atjuaid to wato of life, of Iwaltli
and fuol, tho elimiiNition. of , smoke ia our
cities is essentia'!/' he < Declared. "It is
yniu'Ji cheaper to stop the mri&UK toan to
build hospilais and sanatoria." He went
on to give results of bis vriAjwrieH cm the
Hubjwt. dunng a rccuivb to Now York,
whciv he said that regulations for the sup-
Pilmumi ol smoke had. brought clean air
and light into the city. I he reduction m
doLuhs trom pulmonary consumption. Had
boon wonderful. In 11)0.5 tiie figures wtn-e
2b per .10,000; m 1019 thev were down to
Id |>ei- 10,000. PitKibnig wsi/i formerly "hell
wrtb. the lid off,' but toroueh t.ho work
ol Dr. P\.) chard Burns, of tire Bureau ol
iSmokc Vitiventioii, and others, it was now
jnuch cleaner toau J>ondon. 1 here had
boeu in HiUduug ;ui extraordinary preva
lence of pnuumonna, but now there had
lx;un a vast- imprcvenuiiit. l ho. ''bine sky
law" was tne name given- bv Ami»ru«Lns in
regulations lor anevke aixLtcmen, and the
reguhptiony liad led lo full efficiency nnd
eccxunni.v; Giving evidence an tlir raino
day Prnifvwor Arnold, of Shcfheki Univer
sity, «l.Tted that, boricr wmoko could be
laigcb elmiuialed. huloeu, «iine. or the
leading authontica .stole Unit fr.cLon' Kmoke
can be almost entirely Rhminatcd, given
euough air and high 'l-em jvauirob in biun-
ing. ' ' .
Bcwulia obioaned ui New York by nieaius
of regulatiun have now received the atten
tion of the Victorian Health Comnii.rion
in the preparu'aon of their new regulations.
rl lie prcsont provisions of the Htitli Act
applying ao Llie smoke nuisance are, to aiy
the least of it. vague and imsatinfuctory.
I hey provulf that any elumn-ev, including
tlic fimnel of a. vchscI but not the chimney
of a private dwelling, scuding forth smoke
in such quantity, or in suo.h a maimer a.s
to be a danger to luvilth, or offensive, or
ill any maimer ecni'tru ry to tlic regulations
laid down, may be described as a nuisinice:
The obligation to take action in the wi«e
of a nuimneo primarily rest.s with the muni
cipal fines, which ate required to nuike in
quiries regarding any compla.intis and it
the compUnnU are lound to be justified tv
take Hieps for the abatement of tbe
nuisance. Tho resqionsibilit.ies of the
Health Cmurnission, generally speaking,
only begin if municipaliiies fail to.ULke ae
tion. It js admitted hy the health authori
ties that it is difficult in present eircum-
c fiances t.e deline exactly what a "nuisance"
is, apd it is difficult to. draw up regulations
which will provide a. practjcaiblc m earns oV
measuring the extent' of the nnisinee wberi»
Hvnoke Irom ehimnovs is concerned. Various
means ot doing this have been 'tried, in
cluding the recording of the number of
minutes during which" smoke -is emitted,
the measurement of Us .density, ond the re-
gurtenug of :ts enHnug. However, au
offcrfc to drf.w up workable regulations,
based on the experience and modern prac
tice -m other eountMes, ih how being made.
Tlic next sfop will be lor tbe authorities,
to enforce the regulations, and tr prevent
hlolbonrne -from becoinnig a ciLv oi dirt
and ' big wnoke/' and dl-healtii due to tiie
Hinoko uius&nce. Sunlight and clear skies
are nstrt ot Melbruiri.ao s birthright ol
winch citizens should not be deprived.
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