MOTORS AND AIR POLLUTION [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sue,—Mr. Solomon considers that I have "at least distinctly exaggerated" the amount of nuisance caused by the discharge of unburut oil from the exhausts of motors in our streets
This is a matter of statement as to facts which everyone who goes about our busy streets can, by observation, settle for himself. I have no hesitation in saying that, excluding omnibuses, from twenty-five to thirty per cent. of other motgr vehicles commit the offence I have described, and that in. a large proportion of these the escaping vapour is black, dense, and filthy.
I exclude omnibuses because, after careful observation, I have practically never seen the offence committed by one of these : a practical example, I take it, of how completely it can be avoided when expert care is used to avoid what would be a very costly waste.
About the time that Mr. Solomon was taking exception to my statements, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu made a long and most instructive communication to the Times on the subject of "Bad Manners by Motorists " ; and in that communica- tion drew special attention to this very question. He drew perhaps even more attention to the noises caused by open exhausts : that also is an offence against the law the enforce- ment of which had been neglected. Within a day or two the Home Secretary issued instructions for its strict enforcement in future. On public health grounds, and because of the annoyance and destruction it causes, it is no less necessary that the offence to which I have drawn attention should be actively dealt with by the police.—! am, Sir, &c.,
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