Loads.
1100 miles of road, 1/8 load per day 137
„ Weekly 825
„ Yearly 42,900
YEARLY TOTAL OF THE GROSS QUANTITY OF STREET-REFUSE, WITH THE
PROPORTIONATE QUANTITY OF “MAC” COLLECTED FROM THE MACADAMIZED
THOROUGHFARES OF THE METROPOLIS.
---------------------------+-------------+---------
| Street |
| Refuse. | “Mac.”
---------------------------+-------------+---------
| Cart-loads. | Loads.
100 miles of macadamized | |
roads | 62,400 | 31,200
1100 miles ditto ditto | 85,800 | 42,900
| -------- | ------
| 148,200 | 74,100
---------------------------+-------------+---------
Thus upwards of 74,000 cart-loads of “mac” are, at a low computation,
annually scraped and swept from the metropolitan thoroughfares.
* * * * *
So far as to the _quantity_ of “mac” collected, and now as to its
_uses_.
“‘Mac,’ or _Macadam_,” says one of Mr. Cochrane’s Reports, “is a grand
prize to the scavenging contractor, who finds ready vend and a high
price for it among the builders and brick-makers. Those who _paid_ for
the road--and their surveyors, _possibly_--know nothing of its value,
or of their own loss by its removal from the road; they consider it
in the light of _dirt_--_offensive_ dirt--and are glad to _pay_ the
scavenger for carrying it away! When the _broom_ comes, the scavenger’s
men take care to go _deep_ enough; and many of them are, moreover,
instructed to keep the ‘_mac_’ as free from admixture with foreign
substances as possible; for, though cattle-dung be valuable enough in
itself, the ‘_mac_’ loses _its_ value to the builder and brickmaker by
being _mixed with it_. Indeed, both are valuable for their respective
uses if kept separate, not otherwise.”
On my first making inquiries as to the uses and value of “mac,” I was
frequently told that it was utterly valueless, and that great trouble
and expense were incurred in merely getting rid of it. That this is the
case with many contractors is, doubtlessly, the fact; for now, unless
the “mac,” or, rather, the general road-dirt, be ordered, or a market
for it be assured, it must be got rid of without a remuneration. Even
when the contractor can shoot the “mac” in his own yard, and keep it
there for a customer, there is the cost of re-loading and re-carting;
a cost which a customer requiring to use it at any distance may not
choose to incur. Great quantities of “mac,” therefore, are wasted; and
more would be wasted, were there places to waste it in.
Let me, therefore, before speaking of the uses and sale of it,
point out some of the reasons for this wasting of the “mac” with
other street-dirt. In the first place, the weight of a cart-load
of street-refuse of any kind is usually estimated at a ton; but I
am assured that the weight of a cart-load of “stiff mac” is a ton
and a quarter at the least; and this weight becomes so trying to a
scavenger’s horse, as the day’s work advances, that the contractor, to
spare the animal, is often glad to get rid of the “mac” in any manner
and without any remuneration. Thousands of loads of “mac,” or rather of
mixed street-dirt, have for this, and other reasons, been thrown away;
and no small quantity has been thrown down the gulley-holes, to find
its way into that main metropolitan sewer, the Thames. Of this matter,
however, I shall have to speak hereafter.
There is no doubt that it is common for contractors to represent
the “mac” they collect as being utterly valueless, and indeed an
incumbrance. The “mixed mac,” as I have said, may be so. Some
contractors urge, especially in their bargains with the parish
board, that all kinds of street dirt are not only worthless, but
expensive to be got rid of. Five or six years ago, this was urged
very strenuously, for then there was what was accounted a combination
among the contractors. The south-west district of St. Pancras, until
within the last six years, _received_ from the contractor for the
public scavengery, 100_l._ for the year’s aggregation of street and
house dirt. Since then, however, they have had to pay him 500_l._ for
removing it.
Notwithstanding the reluctance of some of the contractors to give
information on this, or indeed any subject connected with their trade,
I have ascertained from indubitable authority, that “mac” is disposed
of in the following manner. Some, but this is mostly the mixed kind,
is got rid of in _any_ manner; it has even been diluted with water so
as to be driven down the drains. Some is mixed with the general street
ordure--about a quarter of “mac,” I was told, to three-quarters of dung
and street mud--and shipped off in barges as manure. Some is given to
builders, when they require it for the foundations of any edifices that
are “handy,” or rather it is carted thither for a nominal price, such
as a trifle as beer-money for the men. Some, however, is _sold_ for the
same purpose, the contractors alleging that the charge is merely for
cartage. Some, again, is given away or sold (with the like allegation)
for purposes of levelling, of filling up cavities, or repairing
unevennesses in any ground where improvements are being carried on;
and, finally, some is sold to masons, plasterers, and brickmakers, for
the purposes of their trade.
Even for such purposes as “filling up,” there must be in the “mixed
mac” supplied, at least a considerable preponderance of the pure
material, or there would not be, as I heard it expressed, a sufficient
“setting” for what was required.
As a set-off to what is sold, however, I may here state that 30_s._ has
been paid for the privilege of depositing a barge-load of mixed street
dirt in Battersea-fields, merely to get rid of it.
The principal use of the unmixed “mac” is as a component part of the
mortar, or lime, of the mason in the exterior, and of the plasterer in
the interior, construction of buildings, and as an ingredient of the
mill in brick-grounds.
The accounts I received of the properties of “mac” from the vendors of
it, were very contradictory. One man, until lately connected with its
sale, informed me that as far as his own experience extended, “mac”
was most in demand among scamping builders, and slop brickmakers, who
looked only to what was cheap. To a notorious “scamper,” he one morning
sent three cart-loads of “mac” at 1_s._ a load, all to be used in the
erection of the skeleton of one not very large house; and he believed
that when it was used instead of sand with lime, it was for inferior
work only, and was mixed, either for masons’ or plasterers’ work, with
bad, low-priced mortar. Another man, with equal knowledge of the trade,
however, represented “mac” as a most valuable article for the builder’s
purposes, it was “so _binding_,” and this he repeated emphatically. A
working builder told me that “mac” was as good as the best sand; it
made the mortar “hang,” and without either that or sand, the lime would
“brittle” away.
“Mac” may be said to be composed of pulverised granite and rain water.
Granite is composed of quartz, felspar, and mica, each in granular
crystals. Hence, alumina being clay, and silex a substance which has a
strong tendency to enter into combination with the lime of the mortar,
the pulverizing of granite tends to produce a substance which has
necessarily great binding and indurating properties.
From this reduction of “mac” to its elements, it is manifest that it
possesses qualities highly valuable in promoting the cohesive property
of mortar, so that, were greater attention paid to its collection by
the scavenger, there would, in all probability, be an improved demand
for the article, for I find that it is already used in the prosecution
of some of the best masons’ work. On this head I can cite the authority
of a gentleman, at once a scientific and practical architect, who said
to me,--
“‘Mac’ is used by many respectable builders for making mortar. The
objection to it is, that it usually contains much extraneous decaying
matter.”
Increased care in the collection of the material would, perhaps, remove
this cause of complaint.
I heard of one West-end builder, employing many hands, however, who had
totally or partially discontinued the use of “mac,” as he had met with
some which he considered showed itself _brittle_ in the plastering of
walls.
“Mac,” is pounded, and sometimes sifted, when required for use, and is
then mixed and “worked up” with the lime for mortar, in the same way as
sand. By the brickmakers it is mixed with the clay, ground, and formed
into bricks in a similar manner.
Of the proportion sold to builders, plasterers, and brickmakers,
severally, I could learn no precise particulars. The general opinion
appears to be, that “mac” is sold most to brickmakers, and that it
would find even a greater sale with them, were not brick-fields
becoming more and more remote. I moreover found it universally
admitted, that “mac” was in less demand--some said by one-half--than it
was five or six years back.
* * * * *
Such are the _uses_ of “mac,” and we now come to the question of its
_value_.
The price of the purer “mac” seems, from the best information I can
procure, to have varied considerably. It is now generally cheap. I
did not hear any very sufficing reason advanced to account for the
depreciation, but one of the contractors expressed an opinion that this
was owing to the “disturbed” state of the trade. Since the passing of
the Sanitary Bill, the contractors for the public scavengery have been
prevented “shooting” any valueless street-dirt, or dirt “not worth
carriage” in convenient waste-places, as they were once in the habit
of doing. Their yards and wharfs are generally full, so that, to avoid
committing a nuisance, the contractor will not unfrequently sell his
“mac” at reduced rates, and be glad thus to get rid of it. To this
cause especially Mr. ---- attributed the deterioration in the price of
“mac,” but if he had convenience, he told me, and any change was made
in the present arrangements, he would not scruple to store 1000 loads
for the demands of next summer, as a speculation. I am of opinion,
moreover, notwithstanding what seemed something very like unanimity
of opinion on the part of the sellers of “mac,” that what is given or
thrown away is usually, if not always, _mixed_ or inferior “mac,” and
that what is sold at the lowest rate is only a degree or two better;
unless, indeed, it be under the immediate pressure of some of the
circumstances I have pointed out, as want of room, &c.
On inquiring the price of “mac,” I believe the answer of a vendor
will almost invariably be found to be “a shilling a load;” a little
further inquiry, however, shows that an extra sum may have to be paid.
A builder, who gave me the information, asked a parish contractor the
price of “mac.” The contractor at once offered to supply him with 500
loads at 1_s._ a load, if the “mac” were ordered beforehand, and could
be shot at once; but it would be 6_d._ a mile extra if delivered a mile
out of the mac-seller’s parish circuit, or more than a mile from his
yard; while, if extra care were to be taken in the collection of the
“mac,” it would be 2_d._, 3_d._, 4_d._, or 6_d._ a load higher. This,
it must be understood, was the price of “_wet_ mac.”
Good “_dry_ mac,” that is to say, “mac” ready for use, is sold to the
builder or the brickmaker at from 2_s._ to 3_s._ the load; 2_s._ 6_d._,
or something very near it, being now about an average price. It is
dried in the contractor’s yard by being exposed to the sun, or it is
sometimes protected from the weather by a shed, while being dried. More
wet “mac” would be shot for the trade, and kept until dry, but for want
of room in the contractors’ yards and wharfs; for “mac” must give way
to the more valuable dung, and the dust and ashes from the bins. The
best “mac” is sometimes described as “country mac,” that is to say, it
is collected from those suburban roads where it is likely to be little
mixed with dung, &c.
A contractor told me that during the last twelve months he had sold 300
loads of “mac;” he had no account of what he had given away, to be rid
of it, or of what he had sold at nominal prices. Another contractor, I
was told by his managing man, sold last year about 400 loads. But both
these parties are “in a large way,” and do not supply the data upon
which to found a calculation as to an average yearly sale; for though
in the metropolis there are, according to the list I have given in p.
167 of the present volume, 63 contracts, for cleansing the metropolis,
without including the more remote suburbs, such as Greenwich, Lewisham,
Tooting, Streatham, Ealing, Brentford, and others--still some of the
districts contracted for yield no “mac” at all.
From what I consider good authority, I may venture upon the following
moderate computation as to the quantity of “mac” sold last year.
Estimating the number of contracts for cleansing the more central
parishes at 35, and adding 20 for all the outlying parishes of the
metropolis--in some of which the supply of road “mac” is very fine, and
by no means scarce--it may be accurate enough to state that, out of
the 55 individual contracts, 300 loads of “mac” were sold by each in
the course of last year. This gives 16,500 loads of “mac” disposed of
per annum. It may, moreover, be a reasonable estimate to consider this
“mac,” wet and dry together, as fetching 1_s._ 6_d._ a load, so that we
have for the sum realized the following result:--
16,500 loads of “mac,” at 1_s._ 6_d._
per load £1237 10
It may probably be considered by the contractors that 1_s._ 6_d._ is
too high an average of price per load: if the price be minimized the
result will be--
16,500 loads of “mac,” at 1_s._ per
load £825
Then if we divide the first estimate among the 55 contractors, we find
that they receive upwards of 22_l._ each; the second estimate gives
nearly 15_l._ each.
I repeat, that in this inquiry I can but approximate. One gentleman
told me he thought the quantity of “mac” thus sold in the year was
twice 1600 loads; another asserted that it was not 1000. I am assured,
however, that my calculation does not exceed the truth.
I have given the full quantity of “mac,” as nearly, I believe, as it
can be computed, to be yielded by the metropolitan thoroughfares; the
surplusage, after deducting the 1600 loads sold, must be regarded as
consisting of mixed, and therefore useless, “mac;” that is to say,
“mac” rendered so _thin_ by continuous wet weather, that it is little
worth; “mac” wasted because it is not storeable in the contractor’s
yard; and “mac” used as a component part of a barge-load of manure.
In the course of my inquiries I heard it very generally stated that
until five or six years ago 2_s._ 6_d._ might be considered a regular
price for a load of “mac,” while 4_s._, 5_s._, or even 6_s._ have been
paid to one contractor, according to his own account, for the better
kind of this commodity.