XN000022-1976-01-05 — Page 3

Monday, January 5, 1976

He said that this little gesture would go some way towards reducing

noise pollution.

Touching on mahjong games, Mr. Litton called on players to use

insulated tables to reduce the noise of tiles clattering on the table top.

In mentioning noise produced by the construction industry, Mr. Litton

said that pile driving was banned between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and

all day on Sundays and public holidays. Legislation was being drafted

extending this ban to other items of noisy construction equipment.

The Chairman also called on motorists and motorcyclists to pay

particular attention to their vehicles' defective exhausts, which, he said,

were another source of noise pollution. As for the motorcyclists who deli-

berately tamper with their exhausts, they must realise, he added, that they

are acting illegally and courting punishment.

Mr. Litton pointed out that more and more summonses had been issued

under Section/3 of the Summary Offences Ordinance which deals with disturbing

public tranquility between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. In 1974 over 840

people had been summonsed under this section of the Ordinance while up to

November 1975, 1,555 people had been summonsed.

·

Mr. Litton called on the Mutual Aid Committees to help in "spreading

the message" that excessive noise is a kind of pollution and that everyone

can make some contribution towards reducing the problem by showing concern

for their neighbours and keeping noise to a minimum,

Also present at the press conference was Mr. Hilton Cheong-leen, a

member of the Noise Pollution Sub-Committee of EPCOM and Mr. Harnan Grewal,

Deputy Secretary for the Environment.

13