_The price charged_ by the “high master sweepers” for cleaning the
flues of a house rented at 150_l._ a year and upwards, is from 1_s._ to
3_s._ 6_d._ (the higher price being paid for sweeping those chimneys
which have a hot plate affixed). A small master, on the other hand,
will charge from 1_s._ to 3_s._ for the same kind of work, while
a single-handed man seldom gets above “a 2_s._ job,” and that not
very often. The charge for sweeping the flues of a house rented at
from 50_l._ to 150_l._ a year, is from 9_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ by a
large master, and from 8_d._ to 2_s._ by a small master, while a
single-handed man will take the job at from 6_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ The
price charged per flue for a house rented at from 20_l._ a year up to
50_l._ a year, will average 6_d._ a flue, charged by large masters,
4_d._ by small masters, and from 2_d._ to 3_d._ by the single-handed
sweepers in some cases; indeed, the poorest class will sweep a flue for
the soot only. But the prices charged for sweeping chimneys differ in
the different parts of the metropolis. I subjoin a list of the maximum
and minimum charge for the several districts.
_d._ _s._ _d._
Kensington and Hammersmith 4 to 3 0
Westminster 3 „ 2 0
Chelsea 4 „ 2 6
St. George’s, Hanover-sq. 6 „ 3 6
St. Martin’s and St. Ann’s 4 „ 2 6
St. James’s, Westminster 3 „ 2 6
Marylebone 4 „ 2 6
Paddington 3 „ 2 0
Hampstead 3 „ 1 6
St. Pancras 4 „ 3 0
Islington 3 „ 1 6
Hackney and Homerton 3 „ 2 0
St. Giles’s and St. George’s, Bloomsbury 3 „ 3 0
Strand 4 „ 2 6
Holborn 4 „ 2 6
Clerkenwell 3 „ 1 6
St. Luke’s 3 „ 1 0
East London 3 „ 1 6
West London 4 „ 2 6
London City 6 „ 2 6
Shoreditch 3 „ 1 0
Bethnal Green 3 „ 1 0
Whitechapel 4 „ 1 6
St. George’s in the East and Limehouse 3 „ 1 0
Stepney 3 „ 1 6
Poplar 4 „ 2 0
St. George’s, St. Olave’s, and St.
Saviour’s, Southwark 3 „ 1 6
Bermondsey 3 „ 0 9
Walworth and Newington 4 „ 1 6
Wandsworth 4 „ 1 6
Lambeth 3 „ 1 0
Camberwell 4 „ 2 0
Clapham, Brixton, and Tooting 4 „ 2 6
Rotherhithe 3 „ 1 6
Greenwich 3 „ 1 6
Woolwich 3 „ 2 6
Lewisham 6 „ 3 0
N.B.--The single-handed and the knullers generally
charge a penny less than the prices above given.
_There are three different kinds of soot_:--the best is produced purely
from coal; the next in value is that which proceeds from the combustion
of vegetable refuse along with the coal, as in cases where potato
peelings, cabbage leaves, and the like, are burnt in the fires of the
poorer classes; while the soot produced from wood fires is, I am told,
scarcely worth carriage. Wood-soot, however, is generally mixed with
that from coal, and sold as the superior kind.
Not only is there a difference in value in the various kinds of soot,
but there is also a vast difference in the weight. A bushel of pure
coal soot will not weigh above four pounds; that produced from the
combustion of coal and vegetable refuse will weigh nearly thrice as
much; while that from wood fires is, I am assured, nearly ten times
heavier than from coal.
I have not heard that the introduction of free trade has had any
influence on the value of soot, or in reducing the wages of the
operatives. The same wages are paid to the operatives whether soot
sells at a high or low price.