--------------------+---------------+-----------
| Total No. | Average
| of Houses | No. of
| built in 10 | Houses
| Years. | built per
| | Year.
--------------------+---------------+-----------
West Districts | 9,624 | 962·4
North Districts | 13,778 | 1377·8
Central Districts | 349 | 34·9
East Districts | 8,343 | 834·3
South Districts | 14,807 | 1480·7
--------------------+---------------+-----------
Total | 46,901 | 4690·1
--------------------+---------------+-----------
Hence, estimating the number of new houses built yearly in the
metropolis at 4500, the total quantity of earth removed for the
foundations of the buildings throughout London would be 800,000 loads
per annum.
2. _The Cuttings of Railways._--The railways formed within the area of
the metropolis during the last ten years have been--the Great Northern;
the Camden Town, and Bow; the West India Docks and Bow; and the North
Kent Lines. The extension of the Southampton Railway from Vauxhall to
Waterloo-bridge, as well as the Richmond Line, has also been formed
within the same period, but for these no cuttings have been made.
The Railway Cuttings made within the area of the Metropolis Proper
during the last ten years have been to the following extent:--
------------------------+--------+-----------------+--------+---------
| Length |Width of Cutting.| Depth |Quantity
RAILWAYS. | of +---------+-------+ of |of earth
|Cutting.| At | At |Cutting.|Removed.
| | top. | bottom.| |
------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
| Miles. | Yards. | Yards. | Yards. | Loads.
Great Northern | 1-1/2 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 290,400
Camden Town and Bow | 1-1/2 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 290,400
West India Docks and Bow| 2 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 528,000
North Kent | 2 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 528,000
------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
Hence, the gross quantity of earth removed from railway cuttings within
the last ten years has been 1,636,800 loads, or say, in round numbers,
160,000 loads per annum.
3. _The Cutting of Roads and Streets._--According to a Return presented
to Parliament, there were 200 miles of new streets formed within the
metropolitan police district between the years 1839-49; but in the
formation of these no earth has been taken away; on the contrary a
considerable quantity has been required for their construction. In the
case of the lowering of Holborn-hill, that which was removed from the
top was used to fill up the hollow.
4. _The Formation of Parks._--The only park that has been constructed
during the last ten years in the metropolis is Victoria Park, at the
east end of the town; but I am informed that, in the course of the
works there, no earth was carted away, the soil which was removed from
one part being used for the levelling of another.
5. _Pipe and Sewer Works._--The earth displaced in the course of these
operations is usually put back into the ground whence it was taken,
excepting in the formation of some new sewer, and then a certain
proportion has to be carted away. Upon inquiry among those who are
likely to be best informed, I am assured that 1000 loads may be taken
as the quantity carted away in the course of the last year.
6. _Well-sinking._--In this there has been but little done. Those who
are best informed assure me that within the last ten years no such
works of any magnitude have been executed.
The account as to the quantity of rubbish removed in London, then,
stands thus:--
Loads
_Refuse Earthen Materials._ per Annum.
Potsherds and Pansherds 9,000
Old bricks, tiles, slates, mortar, &c. 160,000
Oyster-shells 25,000
_Refuse Earth._
Foundations of houses 800,000
Railway cuttings 160,000
Pipe and sewer laying 1,000
---------
1,155,000
Thus, then, we perceive that the gross quantity of rubbish that has to
be annually removed throughout the metropolis is upwards of 1,000,000
loads per annum.
Now what is done with the vast amount of refuse matter? Whither is it
carried? How is it disposed of?
_The rubbish from the house building or removing_ is of no value to the
master carter, and is shot gratuitously wherever there is the privilege
of shooting it; this privilege, however, is very often usurped. Great
quantities used to be shot in what were, until these last eight years,
Bishop Bonner’s Fields, but now Victoria Park. At the present time this
sort of rubbish is often slily deposited in localities generally known
as “the ruins,” being places from which houses, and indeed streets,
have been removed, and the sites left bare and vacant.
But the main localities for the deposition of this kind of refuse are
in the fields round about the metropolis. Each particular district
appears to have its own special “shoot,” as it is called, for rubbish,
of which the following are the principal.
_Rubbish shoots._
The rubbish of Kensington and Chelsea is shot in the Pottery Grounds
and Kensington-fields.
The rubbish of St. George’s Hanover-square, Marylebone, and
Paddington, is shot in the fields about Notting-hill and Kilburn.
The rubbish of Westminster, Strand, Holborn, St. Martin’s, St.
Giles’s, St. James’s, Westminster, West London, and Southwark, is shot
in Cubitt’s fields at Millbank and Westminster improvements.
The rubbish of Hampstead is shot in the fields at back of
Haverstock-hill.
The rubbish of Saint Pancras is shot in the Copenhagen-fields.
The rubbish of Islington, Clerkenwell, and St. Luke’s, is shot in the
Eagle Wharf-road and Shepherdess-fields.
The rubbish of East London and City is shot in the Haggerstone-fields.
The rubbish of Whitechapel, St. George’s in the East, and Stepney, is
shot in Stepney fields.
The rubbish of Hackney, Bethnal-green, and Shoreditch, is shot in the
Bonkers-pond, Hackney-road.
The rubbish of Poplar is shot in the fields at back of New Town,
Poplar.
The rubbish of Bermondsey is shot in the Bermondsey fields.
The rubbish of Newington, Camberwell, and Lambeth, is shot in
Walworth-common and Kennington-fields.
The rubbish of Wandsworth is shot in Potters-hole, Wandsworth-common.
The rubbish of Greenwich and Lewisham is shot in Russia-common, near
Lewisham.
The rubbish of Rotherhithe is used for ballast.
The quantity of rubbish annually shot in each of the above-mentioned
localities appears to range from 5000 up to as high as 30,000 and
40,000 loads.
Of the earth removed in forming the foundation of new houses, between
one-fourth and one-sixth of the whole is used to make the gardens at
the back, and the bed of the roads in front of them, while the entire
quantity of the soil displaced in the execution of the “cuttings”
of railways is carted away in the trucks of the company to form
embankments in other places. Hence there would appear to be about from
160,000 to 200,000 loads of refuse bricks, potsherds, pansherds, and
oyster-shells, and about 600,000 loads of refuse earth deposited every
year in the fields or “shoots” in the vicinity of the metropolis.
The refuse earth displaced in forming the foundations of houses is
generally carted away by the builders’ men, so that it is principally
the refuse bricks, &c., that the rubbish-carters are engaged in
removing; these they usually carry to the shoots already indicated, or
to such other localities where the hard core may be needed for forming
the foundation of roads, or the rubbish be required for certain other
purposes.
The principal _use to which the “rubbish” is put_ is for levelling,
when the hollow part of any newly-made road has to be filled up, or
garden or lawn ground has to be levelled for a new mansion. Rubbish, at
one time, was in demand for the ballasting of small coasting vessels.
For such ballasting 2_d._ a ton has to be paid to the corporation
of the Trinity House. This rubbish has been used, but sometimes
surreptitiously, for ballast, unmixed with other things. It is,
however, light and inferior ballast, and occupies more space than the
gravel ballast from the bed of the Thames.
Suppose that a collier requires ballast to the extent of 60 tons; if
house rubbish be used it will occupy the hold to a greater height
by about 10 inches than would the ballast derived from the bed of
the Thames. The Thames ballast is supplied at 1_s._ a ton; the
rubbish-ballast, however, was only 3_d._ to 6_d._ a ton, but now it
is seldom used unless to mix with manure, which might be considered
too wet and soft, and likely to ferment on the voyage to a degree
unpleasant even to the mariners used to such freights. The rubbish, I
am told, checks the fermentation, and gives consistency to the manure.
I am assured by a tradesman, who ships a considerable quantity of
stable manure collected from the different mews of the metropolis,
that comparatively little rubbish is now used for ballast (unless in
the way I have stated); even for mixing, but a few tons a week are
required up and down the river, and perhaps a small quantity from the
wharfs on the several canals. Nothing was ever paid for the use of
this rubbish as ballast, the carters being well satisfied to have the
privilege of shooting it. Two of the principal shoots by the river side
were at Bell-wharf, Shadwell, and off Wapping-street. The rubbish of
Rotherhithe, it will be seen, is mainly “shot” as ballast.
The “_hard-core_” is readily got rid of; sometimes it is shot
gratuitously (or merely with a small gratuity for beer to the men);
but if it have to be carted three or four miles, it is from 2_s._
6_d._ to 3_s._ a load. This is used for the foundations of houses,
the groundwork of roads, and other purposes where a hard substratum
is required. The hard-core on a new road is usually about nine inches
deep. There are on an average 20 miles of streets, 15 yards wide,
formed annually in London. Hence there would be upwards of 100,000
loads of hard-core required for this purpose alone. Where the soil is
of a gravelly nature, but little hard rubbish is needed. Oyster-shells
_did_ form a much greater portion than they do now of the hard
substratum of roads. Eight or nine years ago the costermongers could
sell their oyster-shells for 6_d._ a bushel. Now they cannot, or do
not, sell them at all; and the law not only forbids their deposit in
any place whatever, but forbids their being scattered in the streets,
under a penalty of 5_l._ But as the same law provides no place where
these shells may be deposited, the costermongers are in what one of
them described to me as “a quandary.” One man, who with his wife kept
two stalls in Tottenham Court-road, one for fish (fresh and dried) and
for shell-fish, and the other for fruit and vegetables, told me that
he gave “one of those poor long-legged fellows who were neither men nor
boys, and who were always starving and hanging about for a two-penny
job, two-pence to carry away a hamper-full of shells and get rid of
them as he best could. O, where he put them, sir,” said the man, “I
don’t know, I wouldn’t know; and I shouldn’t have mentioned it to you,
only I saw you last winter and know you’re inquiring for an honest
purpose.”
Another costermonger who has a large barrow of oysters and mussels,
and sometimes of “wet fish” near King’s-cross, and at the junction of
Leather-lane with Back-hill, Hatton-garden, was more communicative: “If
you’ll walk on with me, sir,” he said, “_I’ll_ show you where they’re
shot. You may mention my name if you like, sir; I don’t care a d----
for the crushers; not a blessed d----.” He accordingly conducted me
to a place which seemed adapted for the special purpose. At the foot
of Saffron-hill and the adjacent streets runs the Fleet-ditch, now
a branch of the common sewers; not covered over as in other parts,
but open, noisome, and, as the dark water flows on, throwing up a
sickening stench. The ditch is indifferently fenced, so that any one
with a little precaution may throw what he pleases into it. “There,
sir,” said my companion, “there’s the place where more oyster-shells
is thrown than anywhere in London. They’re thrown in in the dark.”
Assuredly the great share of blame is not to those who avail themselves
of such places for illegal purposes, but to those who leave such
filthy receptacles available. The scattered oyster-shells along all
the approaches, on both sides, to this part of the open Fleet-ditch,
evince the use that is made of it in violation of the law. Many of the
costers, however, keep the shells by them till they amount to several
bushels, and then give the rubbish-carters a few pence to dispose of
them for them.
Some of the costermongers, again, obtain leave to deposit their
oyster-shells in the dustmen’s yards, where quantities may be seen
whitening the dingy dust-heaps, and a large quantity are collected with
the house-dust and ashes, together with the broken crockery from the
dust-bins of the several houses. The oyster-shells are carted away with
the pansherds, &c., for the purposes I have mentioned.
* * * * *
I now come to deal with the rubbish-carters, that is to say, with the
labourers engaged in the removal of the “hard” species of refuse;
of which we have seen there are between 160,000 and 200,000 loads
annually carted away; the refuse earth, or “soft dirt,” being generally
removed by the builders’ men, and the refuse, crockeryware, &c., by the
dustmen, when collecting the dust from the “bins” of the several houses.
The master _Rubbish-Carters_ are those who keep carts and horses to
be hired for carting away the old materials when houses or walls are
pulled down. They are also occasionally engaged in carrying away the
soil or rubbish thrown up from the foundations of buildings; the
excavations of docks, canals, and sewers; the digging of artesian
wells, &c. This seems to comprise what in this carrying or removing
trade is accounted “rubbish.”
Perhaps not one of these tradesmen is solely a rubbish-carter, for they
are likewise the carters of new materials for the use of builders,
such as lime, bricks, stone, gravel, slates, timber, iron-work,
chimney-pieces, &c. Some of them are public carmen; licensed carmen
if they work, or ply, in the City; but beyond the City boundaries no
licence is necessary. This complication perplexes the inquiry, but I
purpose to confine it, as much as possible, to the rubbish-carters
proper, having defined what may be understood by “rubbish.” These
carters are also employed in digging, pick-axing, &c., at the
buildings, the rubbish of which they are engaged to remove.
Among the conveyors of rubbish are no distinctions as to the kind.
Any of them will one week cart old bricks from a house which has been
pulled down, and the next week be busy in removing the soil excavated
where the foundations and cellars of a new mansion have been dug.
From inquiries made in each of the different districts of the
metropolis, there appear to be from 140 to 150 tradesmen who, with the
carting of bricks, lime, and other building commodities, add also that
of rubbish-carting. These “masters” among them find employment for 840
labouring men, some of whom I find to have been in the service of the
same employer upwards of 20 years.
The Post-Office Directory, under the head of rubbish-carters, gives
the names of only 35 of the principal masters, of whom several are
marked as scavagers, dust-contractors, nightmen, and road-contractors.
The occupation abstract of the census, on the other hand, totally
ignores the existence of any such class of workmen, masters as well
as operatives. I find, however, by actual visitation and inquiry in
each of the metropolitan districts, and thus learning the names of the
several masters as well as the number of men in their employment, that
there may be said to be, in round numbers, 150 master rubbish-carters,
employing among them 840 operatives throughout London.
A large proportion of this number of labouring men, however, are
casual hands, who have been taken on when the trade was busy during
the summer (which is the “brisk season” of rubbish-cartage), and who
are discharged in the slack time; during which period they obtain jobs
at dust-carting or scavaging, or some such out-door employment. Among
the employers there are scarcely any who are purely rubbish-carters,
the large majority consisting of dust and road-contractors, carmen,
dairymen, and persons who have two or three horses and carts at their
disposal. When a master builder or bricklayer obtains a contract, he
hires horses and carts to take away any rubbish which may previously
have been deposited. The contract of the King’s Cross Terminus of
the Great Northern Railway, for instance, has been undertaken by Mr.
W. Jay, the builder; and, not having sufficient conveyances to cart
the rubbish away, he has hired horses and carts of others to assist
in the removal of it. The same mode is adopted in other parts of the
metropolis, where any improvements are going on. The owners of horses
and carts let them out to hire at from 7_s._ for one horse, to 14_s._
for two per day. If, however, the job be unusually large, the master
rubbish-carters often take it by contract themselves.
Although the _operative rubbish-carters_ may be classed among unskilled
labourers, they are, perhaps, less miscellaneous, as a body, than
other classes of open-air workers. Before they can obtain work of the
best description it is necessary that they should have some knowledge
of the management of a horse in the drawing of a loaded carriage, or
of the way in which the animal should be groomed and tended in the
stable. I was told by an experienced carman, that he, or any one with
far less than his experience, could in a moment detect, merely by the
mode in which a man would put the harness on a horse and yoke him to
the cart, whether he was likely to prove a master of his craft in that
line or not. My informant had noticed, more especially many years ago,
when labour was not so abundantly obtainable as it was last year,
that men out of work would offer him their services as carmen even if
they had never handled a whip in their lives, as if little more were
wanted than to walk by the horse’s side. An experienced carter knows
how to ease and direct the animal when heavily burdened, or when the
road is rugged; and I am assured by the same informant, that he had
known one of his horses more fatigued after traversing a dozen miles
with a “yokel” (as he called him), or an incompetent man, than the
animal had been after a fifteen miles’ journey with the same load
under the care of a careful and judicious driver. This knowledge of
the management of a horse is most essential when men are employed to
work “single-handed,” or have confided to them singly a horse and cart;
when they work in gangs it is not insisted upon, except as regards the
“carman,” or the man having charge of the horse or the team.
The master rubbish-carters generally are more particular than they used
to be as to the men to whom they commit the care of their horses. It
may be easy enough to learn to drive a horse and cart, but a casual
labourer will now hardly get employment in rubbish-carting of a “good
sort” unless he has attained that preliminary knowledge. The foreman of
one of the principal contractors said to me, “It would never do to let
a man learn his business by practising on our horses.” I mention this
to show, that although rubbish-carting is to be classed among unskilled
labours, _some_ training is necessary.
[Illustration: THE RUBBISH CARTER.
[_From a Daguerreotype by_ BEARD.]]
I am informed that one-third of the working rubbish-carters have been
rubbish-carters from their youth, or cart, car, or waggon-drivers, for
they all seem to have known changes; or they have been used to the care
of horses in the capacity of ostlers, stable-men, helpers, coaching-inn
porters, coachmen, grooms, and horse-breakers. Of the remainder,
one-half, I am informed, have “had a turn” at such avocations as
scavagery, bricklayers’ labouring, dock work, railway excavating, night
work, and the many toils to which such men resort in their struggles
to obtain bread, whatever may have been their original occupation,
which is rarely that of an artizan. The other, and what may be called
the greater half of the remaining number, is composed of agricultural
labourers who were rubbish-carters in the country, and of the many men
who have had the care of horses and vehicles in the provinces, and who
have sought the metropolis, depending upon their thews and sinews for a
livelihood, as porters, or carmen, or labourers in almost any capacity.
The most of these men at the plough, the harrow, the manure-cart, the
hay and corn harvests, have been practised carters and horse drivers
before they sought the expected gold in the streets of London. Full a
third of the whole body of rubbish-carters are Irishmen, who in Ireland
were small farmers, or cottiers, or agricultural labourers, or belonged
to some of the classes I have described.
The mechanics among rubbish-carters I heard estimated, by men with
equal means of information, as one in twenty and one in fifteen. Among
these _quondam_ mechanics were more farriers, cart and wheel wrights,
than of other classes.
It seems to be regarded as an indispensable thing that working
rubbish-carters should have one quality--bodily strength. I am told
that one employer, who died a few weeks ago, used to say to any
applicant for work, “It’s no use asking for it, if you wish to keep it,
unless you can lift a horse up when he’s down.”
As I have shown of the scavagers, &c., the employers in rubbish-carting
may be classed as “honourable” and “scurfs.” The men do not use the
word “honourable,” nor any equivalent term, but speak of their masters,
though with no great distinctiveness, as being either “good,” or
“scurfs.” As in other branches of unskilled labour where there are no
trade societies or general trade regulations among the operatives,
there are few distinctive appellations.
From the facts I have collected in connection with this trade, it would
appear that there are 180 master rubbish-carters in the metropolis,
about 140 of whom pay 18_s._ or more per week as wages, while the
remaining 40 pay less than that amount. The latter constitute what the
men term the scurf portion of the trade; so that the honourable masters
among the rubbish-carters may be said to comprise seven-ninths of the
whole.
I will first treat of the circumstances, characteristics, and wages of
the men employed in the honourable trade.
And first, as regards the _division of labour_ among the operative
rubbish-carters, the work is as simple as possible.