_£ s. d._
The cost of scavenging--Difficulty in fixing any standard of
cost--Physical character of a town and other causes must
be taken into consideration--Statistics show very various
results--Average cost per head of population per annum
about one shilling--Is hiring horses cheaper than keeping
a stud?--Reasons in favour of the latter plan--Cost of
carts, horses, stables, land, &c.--Wages of scavengers
and carters--Depreciation of horse flesh and of plant--A
specimen estimate where a stud is kept--Another estimate
where teams are hired--Mr. Williams' returns as to cost--
List of questions on the subject of scavenging--Conclusion 90
CHAPTER I.
"SCAVENGING."
The word "Scavenging," or "Scavengering," as it is frequently
styled, is a very comprehensive term, as it includes that of house
scavenging or the removal of house refuse, and also that of street
scavenging, or the sweeping and cleansing of streets, and the
carting away of all such materials removed from their surface. In
dealing with this subject it will be necessary to consider the
following heads, viz.:--(1) What is house refuse, (2) How and in
what manner shall it be temporarily stored pending the visit of the
Scavenger, (3) What are the best methods for its collection, (4) In
what manner shall it be eventually disposed of, and (5) the cost
of the whole work; (6) Which are the best methods for sweeping and
cleansing streets, (7) Whether machinery is more economical than
hand labour, (8) The extra work involved by the ill construction
of streets and the materials of which they are formed, (9) Whether
private courts and alleys not repairable by the Sanitary Authority
should be swept and cleansed by them, (10) The ultimate disposal
of excessive accumulations of mud, (11) The removal and disposal of
snow, (12) The watering of streets, and (13) The cost of all such
work.
The Public Health Act of 1875 contains several clauses bearing on
the subject of scavenging and the cleansing of streets, and sec.
42, part III., enacts as follows:--
"Every local authority may, and when required by order of the Local
Government Board shall, themselves undertake or contract for--
"The removal of house refuse from premises;
"The cleansing of earth closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools;
either for the whole or any part of their district.
"Moreover, every urban authority and rural authority invested by
the Local Government Board with the requisite powers may, and when
required by order of the said Board shall, themselves undertake or
contract for the proper watering of streets for the whole or any
part of their district.
"All matters collected by the local authority or contractor in
pursuance of this section may be sold or otherwise disposed of,
and any profits thus made by an urban authority shall be carried
to the account of the fund or rate applicable by them for the
general purposes of this Act; and any profits thus made by a rural
authority in respect of any contributory place shall be carried
to the account of the fund or rate out of which expenses incurred
under this section by that authority in such contributory place are
defrayed.
"If any person removes or obstructs the local authority or
contractor in removing any matters by this section authorised to
be removed by the local authority he shall for each offence be
liable to a penalty not exceeding _five pounds_: provided that the
occupier of a house within the district shall not be liable to such
penalty in respect of any such matters which are produced on his
own premises and are intended to be removed for sale or for his own
use and are in the meantime kept so as not to be a nuisance."
Section 45 also enacts that "any urban authority may, if they see
fit, provide in proper and convenient situations receptacles for
the temporary deposit and collection of dust, ashes, and rubbish;
they may also provide fit buildings and places for the deposit of
any matters collected by them in pursuance of this part of this
Act."
The Act also gives the power to local authorities to make bye-laws
with respect to the cleansing of footpaths and pavements, the
removal of house refuse and the cleansing of earth closets,
privies, ashpits, and cesspools, and the prevention of nuisances
arising from snow, filth, dust, ashes, and refuse.
It will thus be seen that the Legislature find it necessary to
frame laws for the proper execution of scavenging by every local
authority, and we shall see in the following chapters how further
clauses in the Public Health Act, as well as in many private
Improvement Acts and also in Bye-laws, detail the manner in which
this work ought to be properly carried out. I shall further
endeavour to show where errors in the working now exist, and give
some suggestions that would, in my opinion, be, if carried out,
improvements upon the present systems.
CHAPTER II.
HOUSE REFUSE.
Now the first question that presents itself to us is: what is
house refuse? and how is it to be defined? for unless this point
is satisfactorily settled, great onus and expense will be put on
the local authority if they are to be compelled to remove all
trade, garden, and other refuse in addition to what may be legally
entitled house refuse.
Section 4, part I., Public Health Act, 1875, contains the following
definition of the word house: "House" includes schools, also
factories and other buildings in which more than twenty persons are
employed at one time. But all that is apparently said in reference
to the definition of refuse is to be found in "Glenn's Public
Health Act," 1875, where in a foot note to section 44, part III.
of the before named Act, is the negative argument "what is not
refuse:" and describes one or two cases in which it was held that
certain ashes from furnaces, etc., were to be designated as "trade
refuse," and further says "that the intention of the Act was that
only the rubbish arising from the domestic use of houses should be
removed."
On reference, however, to some local Improvement Acts, it appears
that the definition is given more in detail, for we find that house
refuse is there described as "all dirt, dust, dung, offal, cinders,
ashes, rubbish, filth, and soil."
We may thus, we imagine, be fairly content with these definitions,
and may assume that all house refuse legally so designated, and
which it is the duty of the scavenger to remove, is really so
removed by the direction of the local authority without dispute,
but that the following articles, which frequently find their way
into a domestic dustbin, are not in the strict terms of the Act
expected to be removed by the scavenger, viz., (1) plaster from
walls and brick bats, (2) large quantities of broken bottles and
flower pots, (3) clinkers and ashes from foundries and greenhouses,
(4) wall papers torn from the rooms of a house, (5) scrap tin (but
not old tins which have contained tinned meats and which, although
very objectionable and bulky, may be fairly assumed to be house
refuse), and (6) all garden refuse such as grass cuttings, dead
leaves, and the loppings from trees and shrubs. The Bromley Local
Board issue a card on which is printed, amongst other information
with reference to the contract for the removal of house refuse,
the following:--"It is hoped that householders will as far as
possible facilitate the systematic removal of refuse by providing
suitable dustbins, and directing their servants that ordinary house
refuse only shall be deposited in such receptacles. The following
are some of the items of refuse which the contractors are bound to
remove, viz.:--cinder ashes, potatoe peelings, cabbage leaves, and
kitchen refuse generally. But the contractors are not required to
remove the refuse of any trade, manufacture, or business, or of
any building materials or any garden cuttings or sweepings." Some
valuable statistics have recently been prepared by me from answers
obtained from upwards of ninety of the principal cities, and towns
in England, in reply to a series of questions which I addressed to
the local surveyors on the subject of scavenging, and on referring
to these statistics it is found that out of these ninety towns, the
authorities of only thirteen of them direct the removal of both
trade and garden refuse without any special extra payment being
made by the householder, but that this is only done when these
materials are placed in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to
a house. Several towns, however, it appears remove such materials
on special payments being made of sums varying from 1s. 6d. to 3s.
per load.
Disputes frequently arise between the men employed in scavenging
and the householder on these vexed questions as to the difference
between house, trade, or garden refuse, a dispute often raised by
the scavengers themselves, in the hope of obtaining a gratuity or
reward for the clearance of a dustbin which no doubt, legally,
they are perfectly justified in refusing to empty, and in order to
lessen the chance of such disputes and to attempt to settle this
question the following suggestions may be of value.
It would no doubt be vexatious if any sanitary authority were to
absolutely refuse to remove the "garden" refuse from those houses
to which a small flower garden was attached, whilst it would on the
contrary be an unfair tax upon the general community if the refuse
of large gardens was removed without payment. A good rule would
therefore be to remove only such _garden_ refuse as was contained
in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house, and that
as the removal of any kind of _trade_ refuse would no doubt lead
to abuses if done gratuitously by the sanitary authority, that
this material should only be removed on payment of some sum, which
should be previously fixed by the Local Authority, and each case
should be reported to the officer superintending the work before it
was removed.
There are, of course, in addition to the ordinary house refuse the
waste materials from the surface of the streets, and from markets
and slaughter-houses, which have to be collected and disposed of by
the Local Authority, but these materials should be collected in a
special manner, independently of the ordinary removal of the house
refuse.
CHAPTER III.
THE DUSTBIN.
The next question that we have to consider, having thus far
discussed the subject of "what is house refuse," is the important
one of the manner and place in which it shall be temporarily stored
pending the visit of the scavenger. I will begin as I did in the
former case by turning to the law on the subject, and find out if
it can help us.
Section 40, part III., of the Public Health Act of 1875 enacts
that: "Every local authority shall provide that all drains,
water-closets, earth-closets, privies, _ashpits_, and cesspools
within their district be constructed and kept so as not to be a
nuisance or injurious to health."
And section 35 of the above Act states, "It shall not be lawful
newly to erect any house or to rebuild any house pulled down to
or below the ground floor without a sufficient water-closet,
earth-closet, or privy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doors
and coverings. Any person who causes any house to be erected or
rebuilt in contravention of this enactment shall be liable to a
penalty not exceeding twenty pounds."
The Act also gives power to local authorities to enforce provision
of ashpit accommodation for houses where such accommodation does
not already exist, and to frame bye-laws with respect to ashpits.
In the year 1877 the Local Government Board issued a series of
model bye-laws for the use of sanitary authorities, and No. IV. of
this series, which is upon "New Streets and Buildings," contains
the following six lengthy clauses, regulating the position of an
ashpit with reference to a dwelling-house or public-building, or
to any water supply, and for the purpose of removing its contents
without carrying them through any dwelling-house, &c.:--
"80. Every person who shall construct an ashpit in connection
with a building shall construct such ashpit at a distance of _six
feet_ at the least from a dwelling-house or public building, or
any building in which any person may be, or may be intended to be
employed in any manufacture, trade, or business.
"81. A person who shall construct an ashpit in connexion with
a building shall not construct such ashpit within the distance
of __ _feet_ from any water supplied for use, or used or likely
to be used by man for drinking or domestic purposes, or for
manufacturing drinks for the use of man, or otherwise in such a
position as to endanger the pollution of any such water.
"82. Every person who shall construct an ashpit in connexion with a
building shall construct such ashpit in such a manner and in such
a position as to afford ready means of access to such ashpit for
the purpose of cleansing such ashpit, and of removing the contents
thereof, and, so far as may be practicable, in such a manner and in
such a position as to admit of the contents of such ashpit being
removed therefrom, and from the premises to which such ashpit may
belong, without being carried through any dwelling-house or public
building, or any building in which any person may be, or may be
intended to be employed in any manufacture, trade, or business.
"83. Every person who shall construct an ashpit in connection with
a building shall construct such ashpit of a capacity not exceeding
in any case _six cubic feet_, or of such less capacity as may be
sufficient to contain all dust, ashes, rubbish, and dry refuse
which may accumulate during a period not exceeding _one week_ upon
the premises to which such ashpit may belong.
"84. Every person who shall construct an ashpit in connection with
a building shall construct such ashpit of flagging, or of slate,
or of good brickwork, at least _nine inches_ thick, and rendered
inside with good cement or properly asphalted.
"He shall construct such ashpit so that the floor thereof shall be
at a height of not less than _three inches_ above the surface of
the ground adjoining such ashpit, and he shall cause such floor to
be properly flagged or asphalted.
"He shall cause such ashpit to be properly roofed over and
ventilated, and to be furnished with a suitable door in such
a position and so constructed and fitted as to admit of the
convenient removal of the contents of such ashpit, and to admit of
being securely closed and fastened for the effectual prevention of
the escape of any of the contents of such ashpit.
"85. A person who shall construct an ashpit in connexion with a
building shall not cause or suffer any part of such ashpit to
communicate with any drain."
There can be no doubt that the position of the dustbin or ashpit,
as regards its site with reference to the main dwelling-house, is
of primary sanitary importance, for if the garbage and domestic
accumulations therein are allowed to remain for a few days,
especially when the weather is close, damp, and warm, they become
very offensive, and the emanations therefrom may even be highly
deleterious and dangerous to health; this effect is aggravated by
persons emptying vegetable refuse and other matters which are _wet_
into the dustbin, as decomposition of these matters is greatly
assisted by this addition, and it would be well that all such
matters should be burnt on the kitchen or scullery fire along with
a large percentage of the ashes which could be sifted and saved
from those which too readily find their way into the dustbin,
and are thus wasted. Care would of course have to be taken in
this process that no smell or nuisance was caused by burning this
refuse, but the greatest difficulty would arise in overcoming the
time-honoured prejudices of the domestic servant who usually finds
the dustbin or ashpit the most convenient and least troublesome
place to dispose of nearly everything that to her may be entitled
rubbish.
Now with all due respect to those who framed Section 35 of the
Public Health Act of 1875, it is open to considerable doubt
whether the _fixed_ dustbin or ashpit, as it is there styled, is
the best and most sanitary receptacle for the house refuse. They
may be necessary and suitable for Public Institutions, or for
large isolated private dwellings, or for schools or any places
where excessive quantities of refuse may accumulate, but where
this refuse is systematically and properly removed by the order
of the local authority, at such times and in such manner as will
be hereafter pointed out, a movable or portable dustbin, box, or
basket, is far preferable to the large immoveable inconvenient
fixed ashpit, recommended and enforced under the Act.
This portable dustbox should be of such dimensions that the men
employed in removing the refuse could easily carry it out and
empty its contents into the cart, and there is nothing to prevent
more than one being provided, if it is found insufficient for the
requirements of the household. The box should be made of iron, or
wood or basket lined with tin, or some equally impervious material,
so that it can easily be washed out and thoroughly cleansed and
disinfected when found necessary to do so, a matter very difficult
to accomplish with the fixed ashpit. The _whole_ of its contents
could be quickly emptied, which is more than can be easily effected
with the fixed ashpit, and then only when very special arrangements
are made for its drainage. The movable dustbox can, in addition
to these advantages, be placed in any part of the premises, and
may be covered or not as may be deemed desirable, and need not,
like many of the existing ashpits, be fixed in such a position
as to appear to have been thus placed for the express purpose of
poisoning with its foul smell the whole of the inhabitants in
its vicinity. The movable box can also be readily taken out to
the scavenging cart by the householder himself, a very essential
requisite, as will be shown in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE COLLECTION OF HOUSE REFUSE.
The collection of house refuse should be done satisfactorily,
expeditiously, and economically.
At the present time there seem to be only three methods by which
this is attempted to be effected; they are as follows:--
(1.) By a house to house call at intermittent periods.
(2.) By the scavengers giving notice of their approach by ringing a
bell or by other signal, and requiring the householder to bring out
the refuse to the cart, and
(3.) By placing public dustbins in different localities, and
expecting householders in their vicinity to place the house refuse
in these dustbins, which would then be cleared from time to time by
the local authority.
The law is silent on the subject of what may be considered as an
efficient collection and removal of house refuse, and experience
only can teach us the best manner of thoroughly effecting this work
without losing sight of the economical side of the question; but
it appears, on again referring to the table of statistics which
have been previously mentioned, that nearly all the towns adopt
the two first methods mentioned above for the removal of the house
refuse, but that very few of them are able to adopt any public
dustbins or "lay stall" accommodation for the temporary reception
of the refuse, not only on account of their first cost, but also
from the difficulty of finding suitable positions for them. This
latter objection to the adoption of public dustbins arises in
great measure from the fact that they are usually constructed of
galvanised iron in the form of open boxes or troughs, which are
readily accessible to young children and poultry, who often scatter
their contents in every direction, and they are also generally open
to the view of the inhabitants of the courts, and to passers by,
whose "morale" it is found is certainly not improved by constant
familiarity with the sight of filth.
If these dustbins were constructed with properly balanced
self-closing lids, these objections would be overcome, and their
first cost would be but trifling when compared with the benefit to
be derived by placing them in some of the thickly populated courts
and alleys which are unfortunately to be found in nearly every
town. Where there are no public dustbins the inhabitants of these
courts throw their waste products upon the surface of the streets
or courts, from time to time throughout the day, as it cannot be
expected nor desired that such materials should remain, even for
twenty-four hours, in their one living room, which is frequently
over crowded, and has but little spare space even for the common
necessities of life; but that these waste products should be thus
strewn over the surface of the street or court is almost equally
objectionable, and points to the enormous advantage to be gained
by placing in convenient situations the covered dustbins that are
described above, the contents of which could be easily emptied once
a day.
The greatest difficulty would be found to be that of inducing the
inhabitants to take the trouble to carry their house refuse to the
dustbin, but they might be gradually educated up to this standard
of cleanliness, and a few persons judiciously summoned and punished
"pour encourager les autres," when detected in throwing any of
their waste products on to the surface of the street or court,
would no doubt have a very beneficial effect in assisting their
education.
With reference to the question of a house to house call or
visitation by the scavengers for the purpose of removing the
refuse. This is no doubt the method "par excellence" of all
the systems for its effectual removal without much trouble to
the householder, but except in suburban districts and for the
collection of refuse from the better class of dwelling-houses and
public institutions, the expense, delay, and difficulty which
would be incurred in calling at every house throughout a town,
would make it almost impracticable, and consequently this system
is universally combined with that which is known as the bell or
signal system, which simply means that the scavenging cart in going
its rounds has a bell attached to it, or the horse, which bell
rings automatically as the cart proceeds on its way; or the man in
charge blows a trumpet, or calls in stentorian tones, "Dust oh!" On
hearing this signal, _but not before_, the householder is expected
to bring out the refuse in some convenient receptacle, which is
then emptied into the cart by the scavenger.
As a matter of fact, the receptacles containing all the waste
products of these householders are brought out and are placed in
the gutter of the street close to the kerb, long before the cart
makes its appearance or can be reasonably expected to do so.
These temporary receptacles are, as may be easily imagined of
various sizes and shapes, and are composed of various materials.
On one side you may see a well and suitably constructed galvanized
iron box, with handles and cover complete, on the other an old band
box, cigar box, or tin saucepan.
The result of these inappropriate receptacles filled with
heterogeneous collections of house refuse being left unprotected
in the public streets, is that their contents are quickly strewn
about the surface of the street, either by their being upset
accidentally, or purposely, by persons who gain a precarious
livelihood by abstracting therefrom, and selling rags, bones, and
similar articles, or by the dogs, ever on the alert for a hasty
and disgusting meal, and the appearance of the street which has
probably been carefully swept and garnished during the night or
early in the morning, quickly assumes, especially in a high wind, a
very offensive character, and probably has to be entirely re-swept
and cleansed before the ordinary traffic of the day commences.
To obviate these evils arising from this practice almost
universally adopted, I suggest the following plan:--
A specially designed frame or carriage must be constructed
somewhat similar in appearance to a timber waggon; this must be
furnished with a number of strong iron hooks, with or without
simple lifting gear, according to the strength and sizes of the
receptacles hereafter described. Upon these hooks are to be hung
cylindrical shaped galvanized iron boxes with balanced covers,
and hopper-shaped mouths, and of such cubical capacity as may be
found to meet the requirements of any district choosing to adopt
my system. The _modus operandi_ would be as follows:--The waggon
should be drawn through certain selected streets at about 6.30
a.m.; the boxes or cylinders unhung from it, and placed in such
suitable and convenient positions as may be found necessary; their
distance apart may be about that of the ordinary street lamp posts,
and their position may be in the street channel gutter close to
the kerb of the footpath; they should be allowed to remain about
a couple of hours, during which time the householders in the
vicinity of the boxes would be expected to empty into them all
the sweepings, garbage, and house refuse from their premises; at
the end of this time the waggon would again appear, and the boxes
or cylinders would be attached to the hooks, and be taken to the
nearest refuse depôt.
There are many advantages to be gained by adopting my proposed
system, the principal one being that of preventing the disgusting
practice of allowing the foul refuse from houses, to be openly
displayed in the public streets, in the manner previously
described, and in preventing the possibility of such refuse being
allowed to stay for a single instant upon the surface of the
street, where even if it is afterwards carefully removed, an ugly
stain is almost sure to remain for many hours afterwards.
Another advantage would be the great convenience to householders
of that of having a ready receptacle for their refuse, only a few
yards at the most from their doors.
The saving of time also in the collection would be considerable,
as the scavengers need not wait one single moment beyond the
time required to attach the cylinder to the waggon, and there is
in addition the cleanliness with which this operation could be
performed, thus conferring a great boon on the foot passengers
in the streets, who, under the present system, are often half
smothered by the dust when the scavengers are engaged in emptying
the contents of the usual inappropriate receptacles into the
ordinary dust cart.
The facilities also for cleansing or disinfecting the cylinders
would be undoubted, and the economy, not only in time but in actual
expense over the existing system, would be considerable, for the
cylinders would last a long time without repairs being needed; not
so the ordinary dust cart, which speedily wears out, principally
from the fact that the "tipping" necessary to empty it of its
contents, is highly detrimental to its stability.
Having thus shown a method by which the collection of house refuse
in crowded streets, where a house-to-house visit is impracticable,
can be materially improved, I will pass on to the present system of
the collection of refuse in the suburban and rural districts of a
town by a house-to-house call.
A great improvement in this system would no doubt be effected by
adopting the movable dust boxes I suggest in the chapter on "The
Dustbin," as great delay and consequent expense would be saved
thereby, and the work would be altogether more effectually and
properly performed, but it is also found that very frequently the
scavengers on calling at a house for the purpose of removing the
accumulated refuse, are told by the servant that they cannot be
admitted, either because it is an inconvenient hour, or that it
is washing day, or that being a wet day the scavengers' boots are
too dirty to walk over their clean passages or floor, or that the
dustbin is not full, and that they must call another day, or some
other equally plausible excuse, so that the visit is a useless
one, and time is lost. Another evil arising out of this is also
the fact that as the scavenger's cart has usually a regular round,
a fruitless visit as described, results in the dustbin remaining
uncleared for perhaps another week, or even more, a state of things
not at all to be desired.
In order to assist in obviating the chances of such useless visits
by the scavengers, I would suggest a very simple remedy, which
has already been tried in some towns with considerable success.
It consists in the householder placing a card bearing the letter
D, or some other distinguishing mark, in a conspicuous place in a
window, when the services of the scavengers are required; these
cards should be printed and circulated by the Sanitary Authority
of the district, who should state on the back of the card the days
on which the scavengers would visit each neighbourhood, with the
approximate hour of the day in which they would appear, in each
road or street if practicable, in order that the householder may
not be unnecessarily inconvenienced by being obliged to keep the
card for any length of time in his window.
The scavengers in passing, observe the signal, and call at the
house, otherwise they pass on, unless specially called in by the
occupants, thus avoiding any unnecessary delay in their rounds.
A visit from the scavengers either before seven or after ten in
the morning is generally very inconvenient for households of a
superior class, and should be, if possible, carefully avoided by
the Sanitary Authority.
CHAPTER V.
THE SCAVENGER'S CART.
The next question that presents itself to our notice is that of the
form, style, and construction of the cart usually employed in this
work of house refuse collection, and whether it is well suited for
the requirements of the work or otherwise.
The cart usually employed is that known as the ordinary "tip cart,"
strongly, if not clumsily, constructed of an oak frame, with elm or
deal sides of considerable height; it holds about a couple of cubic
yards of materials, and generally costs from sixteen to twenty
pounds.
These carts are not only clumsy and heavy, but they give an
overweighted diminutive appearance to the horse between the shafts,
especially as the quality of horse employed for work of this
character is frequently none of the best, and as a matter of fact
the cart is so ill-balanced that the bulk of its weight is thrown
upon the back of the horse. The height, too, of the cart is often
so great as to necessitate the use of a short ladder, up which
the scavenger has to climb, before he can discharge the contents
of his basket into the cart, sending in the process a shower of
offensive dust in every direction, far from pleasant for those
unfortunate persons who happen to be passing near the spot at the
time. When used as "slop" carts the same objections arise, as in
this case the liquid mud is splashed in every direction, owing
to the height to which it has to be thrown by the shovel of the
scavenger.
Some difficulty is also experienced in thoroughly covering over the
contents of the cart, so that not only shall it be hidden from the
eye, but that it shall prevent either the liquid mud from being
spilled on the ground, or if the cart is being used to convey
either dust or house refuse, to prevent the contents being blown
about, or dropped upon the surface of the street.
The imperfect mode at present adopted is to cover the cart with
a tarpaulin, which is tied down as tightly as the circumstances
of the case will admit, but which as a rule does not effectually
answer the purpose for which it is intended. In towns where the
house refuse is not collected separately from the road scrapings,
a judicious mixture of the two in the cart considerably assists in
preventing any mud slopping or dust blowing.
The material being wood of which these carts are constructed, it
becomes a difficult matter either to effectually cleanse them after
use, or to properly disinfect them, which in times of any serious
outbreak of an epidemic is essential to the sanitary well-being of
a community. The employment also of wooden carts for this work is
bad economy, their rough usage, and the mode adopted for emptying
them by "tipping," rendering their life but a short one, a cart in
constant work frequently costing from four to five pounds per annum
in repairs, and having but very little of the original material of
which it was constructed left in it at the end of six years.
With a view to obviate these and other objections, several improved
carts and waggons have been introduced by different makers, who
have styled them by a variety of names, in order to recommend them
to the notice of the public. Amongst other names they are called
dust carts, general purpose carts, sanitary carts, slush carts,
tumbler carts, mud waggons, tip waggons, slop waggons, &c.
They are generally constructed with iron bodies fixed upon
wooden frames on wheels; they are of various forms and designs,
the principal objects aimed at being lightness of construction
combined with strength, so balanced as to bear with a minimum of
weight upon the horse; economy in their cost has not been lost
sight of, and they are usually provided with some special means
for emptying, either by being completely inverted by a chain and
windlass, or by some mechanical arrangement of the tailboard; they
are built very low upon their axles, so as to be easily filled, are
either completely covered over with a moveable lid, or are fitted
with hinged side boards, so as to prevent any splashing over of
their contents, and as they are nearly all constructed with iron,
they are easily cleansed and disinfected whenever it is thought
necessary to do so.
Amongst others I may mention the following firms who have
made the construction of these sanitary carts and waggons a
speciality:--Messrs. Bayley & Co., Newington Causeway, London;
Messrs. Cocksedge & Co., of Stowmarket; the Bristol Waggon Works
Company; and Messrs. Smith & Son, of Barnard Castle, Yorkshire.
CHAPTER VI.
DISPOSAL OF HOUSE REFUSE.
Having proceeded thus far with my subject, the very important
question next arises as to the manner of the disposal of the house
refuse after it has been collected by the Local Authority, both
with regard to its sanitary aspect and also to that of economy.
So much depends upon the position of every town and the character
of the district in which it is situated, that no hard and fast
lines can be laid down in reply to this question, if, however,
the town is fortunate enough to be the centre of an agricultural
district, or there are ready and economical means of conveying the
refuse there, no difficulty should be experienced in disposing
of it, if not altogether at a profit, at least at a small loss
upon the cost of collection, as farmers and market gardeners
will readily buy house refuse at prices varying from sixpence to
three shillings a load to use as a top dressing or manure upon
their land, and a very rich and fertilizing manure it makes,
notwithstanding the outcry that is sometimes raised against it that
it produces rank weeds, owing to the seeds of such vegetation
being found in every domestic dustbin, the fact really being that
all manures will foster and help the growth of weeds, as well as
cereals or roots, and the appearance of a prolific crop of weeds
points rather to bad and careless farming than to the use of
inferior manure.
In order to suit the convenience of the customers for refuse, and
in order to prevent any delay in its collection from the houses, it
is necessary for every town to provide one or more depôts in which
the refuse may be so deposited from day to day as it is collected.
The site of each depôt should be very carefully selected, bearing
the following requisitions in mind:--
They should not be at greater distances from the town than would
allow the carts to make from three to four journeys a day, and
it is evident that their position should, so much as possible,
avoid the necessity for the carts to pass _through_ the town when
full; they must also be placed so as to be readily accessible to
the carts and waggons of the farmers, the customers, and above
all, they must be so situated with regard to any dwelling-houses
or public roads as not to cause any nuisance, or be injurious to
health in any possible manner, and for this purpose a knowledge
of the prevailing wind in that neighbourhood would be useful, and
care must also be taken that no stream or water-course from which
the supply of any drinking water is obtained is likely to become
polluted by having such an unpleasant neighbour as a "refuse depôt."
The depôt need only be an open field securely railed off against
trespassers or pilferers, but as it generally swarms with countless
numbers of rats, it is just as well that no stacks or barns should
be erected in its vicinity, if their owner has any wish to preserve
his corn.
In this depôt, the site of which has been selected with all
due care, the refuse should be made up into measured heaps, a
convenient size for them being found to be twelve feet square by
six feet high; these heaps are then sold as they stand to farmers
and others who send their carts and waggons to remove them, thus
preventing any possibility of mistake or dispute arising as to the
number of loads each customer pays for and receives. The refuse,
when first brought into the depôt, is far more bulky than it
afterwards becomes, and it shrinks nearly twelve per cent. after a
few months' exposure to wind and rain; it is therefore necessary
to unload each cart as it arrives from the town on to an enormous
heap or mound, from the other end of which the measured heaps are
made up after the material has become stale and sunken. Another
cause for the shrinkage and reduction of bulk of house refuse after
reception at the depôt is the necessary removal of all the old
tins, broken crockery, broken flower pots, &c., before it can be
sold to the farmer, and a very difficult matter it is to know how
to deal with this heterogeneous mass of absolutely useless articles
thus left behind, unless they can be used for bottoming roads,
or for agricultural or for deep land drainage, or for filling up
hollows of land not afterwards intended to be built upon, when
these materials would be very useful and acceptable for such
purposes, otherwise they must be kept and allowed to cumber the
ground until some such use can be assigned to them.
All towns are not so conveniently situated with regard to their
surrounding neighbourhood, as will permit their authorities to sell
the collected house refuse to farmers, market-gardeners, or others,
for use as manure, and in such cases, where they cannot do so,
other measures must be resorted to, in order to dispose of it in
the most economical and sanitary manner.
Among the numerous questions that I addressed to the various
towns of England when engaged in preparing the returns to
which reference has already been made, was one to the following
effect:--"How is the refuse disposed of after collection?"
Many and various were the replies to this. Amongst them were the
following:--
In many towns it is stated that the whole of the refuse is used by
brick makers, in others it is simply "tipped to waste." In one case
the answer is, "Sold by auction twice a year," but to whom it is
sold, and for what purpose, does not transpire. In some towns it
appears to be mixed with lime and used as manure upon the fields,
and in others it is mixed with the sludge of the sewage farms, and
is then ploughed or dug into the soil of the farm. This seems a
better plan than that of another town, where it is "given or thrown
away," although the difficulty of disposing of the old iron, tins,
&c., is not touched upon in any of the foregoing answers. The next
reply states that "it is riddled, and the cinders and vegetable
refuse are burnt to generate steam, the fine dust is used with the
manure manufactory (tub system), the old iron is sold, and the
pots, &c., used for the foundations of roads." In one case the
whole of the refuse is taken out to sea in hopper barges, and sunk
in deep water. In a great number of towns it is sold by tender for
the year, but what eventually becomes of it does not transpire.
But the most favoured methods, where it cannot be sold as manure
to farmers, seem to be either that of carting it away to some spot
outside the town, and there using it for the purpose of filling
up hollows and depressions, or that of giving or selling it to
brick-makers.
The practice of filling up hollow places with either house refuse
or street sweepings cannot be too strongly deprecated, as it
stands to reason that some object is in view when these hollows
are thus filled up, and we may be sure that the object is that
of transforming inconvenient and impracticable pieces of ground
into convenient building sites, whereon, sooner or later, eligible
villas make their sudden appearance, almost with the rapidity of
Aladdin's Palace, under the magic hand of a jerry builder, and
woe betide the unfortunate being who, struck with the pretentious
appearance and low rent of one of these eligible family residences,
takes up his abode therein, for so surely will disease, and perhaps
death, be his visitor. I will not here enter into the details,
or describe the medical reasons why such sites are unhealthy for
dwelling-houses, as the fact is almost self-evident, and the
practise of using either house refuse or street sweepings for such
a purpose has been condemned by sanitary experts over and over
again. But I will pass on to describe a method of disposal of town
refuse which is now gaining some popularity in localities where
difficulties are experienced in getting rid of the refuse by any
of the means to which reference has been made, and which up to the
present time seems to be the best solution of the difficulty. I
allude to the process of the destruction of the refuse by fire.
With this object in view a Mr. Fryer has invented an apparatus
which he styles a "Patent Carboniser, for the conversion of
garbage, street, and market sweepings, also other vegetable
refuse into charcoal." This apparatus consists of a structure
somewhat resembling, externally, a brick kiln. It is divided into
hopper-shaped compartments, which at the bottom are furnished with
a furnace, fitted with a reverbatory arch. A fire is lighted in
this furnace, the necessary combustion being obtained, and the heat
maintained, by burning the cinders, which are sifted out of the
house refuse for this purpose.
All the street sweepings, refuse, garbage, &c., is then thrown
in at the top of the kiln, and it is there and then completely
destroyed by the action of the fire, and converted into charcoal,
which is withdrawn through a sliding door fixed at the bottom of
the kiln. The inventor further contends that his Carboniser not
only burns everything within it so thoroughly and completely as to
produce effectual deodorisation, but also that in the process all
noxious gases which may be driven off the burning organic matters
contained in the refuse are themselves burnt and destroyed.
Mr. Fryer has also patented another apparatus which he calls a
"Destructor for reducing the bulk for purifying and fusing mineral
refuse of towns, the residue to be converted into concrete or
mortar." This apparatus is somewhat similar in construction and
mode of action to the "Carboniser," except that it has no tall kiln
containing the hopper-shaped compartments. Great heat is, however,
necessary in order to fuse the mass of heterogeneous articles that
are thrown into it, and its success is greatly dependant upon such
heat being constantly and efficiently maintained. It is said that
the cost of an establishment to dispose of the refuse by this
means, consisting of one six celled Destructor and an eight-celled
Carboniser, boiler, steam engine, mortar pans, cooler, chimney,
shaft, and buildings, is about £4,500.
Each cell is stated to deal with about 50 cwt. of refuse in every
twenty-four hours, and that no nuisance is experienced in the
vicinity of the depôts. This apparatus has, I understand, been
adopted in Kralingen, Leeds, Blackburn, Bradford, Warrington, and
Derby, and is about to be adopted in other important places.
It is not my intention here to describe or to discuss the question
of the collection and disposal of night soil, which in many towns
is intimately connected and amalgamated with the collection of
house refuse and the cleansing of streets. It is a subject of
sufficient importance to be dealt with separately. The following
particulars, however, with reference to the collection of house
refuse in connection with the pail system at Manchester will not
be out of place, especially with regard to the reference which is
made to Fryer's Carbonisers and Destructors, and it must be borne
in mind that the refuse here spoken of is _wet_, which makes the
difficulties connected with its destruction by fire greater than it
would be if only dry, or comparatively dry, house refuse had to be
destroyed. These particulars are gleaned from a report contained
in a copy of the _British Architect_, of 1876, of a visit by the
members of the Manchester Scientific and Mechanical Society to the
works of the Manchester Corporation Health Committee, the figures
being altered so as to conform more closely with the growth of the
work since that year.
There are about 56,000 closets in Manchester, 44,000 of which have
been constructed on the cinder sifter principle, and are emptied
during the day, the remainder are emptied during the night.
The contents of the new closets are brought away by vans specially
constructed for the purpose, having five compartments, one of which
is open and uncovered, and this receives the dry refuse; the other
four compartments are covered and enclosed with tightly fitting
doors. Each of these compartments holds six galvanised iron pails,
which are also covered with closely fitting lids. The van bottoms
are panelled, and the inside of each panel is filled with a layer
of carbolic acid powder, one inch thick, and they are thoroughly
cleansed after each journey.
The Health Committee employ 100 of these vehicles, each one making
four journeys per day. The contents of the closets which are
emptied during the night are taken away in open carts, two-thirds
to the tips and the remainder along with the refuse brought into
the yard by the vans, is sent each night into the country.
The amount of material dealt with each week by the Health Committee
is about 3,000 tons, and may be described as follows:--Paper, 1
ton; rags, 3 tons; dead animals, dogs, cats, rats, mice, guinea
pigs, &c., 2 tons; stable manure, 17 tons; meat tins, old tin and
iron, 33 tons; refuse from slaughter-houses and fish shops, &c., 60
tons; broken pots, bottles, and glasses, 80 tons; vegetable refuse,
door mats, table covers, floorcloths, old straw mattresses, 100
tons; fine ashes, 1,230 tons; cinders, 1,400 tons.
The Committee employ in this department over 500 men, including
clerks, inspectors, wheelwrights, smiths, saddlers, tinmen,
engineers, mechanics, manure and mortar makers, stablemen, and
labourers. They have 156 horses, and about the same number of
vehicles of various descriptions.
When the loaded vans reach the yard, they are first weighed,
afterwards they are taken on to the first floor of a two-storey
building, where the dry refuse from the open part of each van is
unloaded and shovelled on to sieves worked by steam power. By this
arrangement the fine dust widely diffusing itself in its descent,
falls on to the floor below, covering the contents of the pails,
which are, at the same time, being emptied on to grids fixed in
the floor. At one end of these grids the bars are set much more
closely together than at the other, and serve to convey the liquid
portion of the contents of the pails by means of troughs to a tank
where it is further dealt with. The solid portion of the excreta
falls through the wide-barred portion of the grid into suitable
receptacles. The rough portion of the dry refuse, after being
separated from the fine, is carried along a movable and endless
table to the mortar mills, the boiler, or to one of the various
furnaces, of which there are several in the yard. This dry refuse
is of such a heterogeneous character as to require various modes of
treatment. It is made up of paper, rats, meat tins, straw, cabbage
leaves, onions, apples, turnips, fish bones, dead cats, rabbits,
guinea pigs, fowls, brush heads, old boots, old books, knives,
forks, spoons, children's toys, old hats, old bonnets, crinoline
wires, umbrella frames, broken pots, broken bottles, preserve jars,
medicine bottles, old mattresses, cinders, bits of coal, firewood,
bass, broken bricks, and a host of other articles too numerous
to mention. When this mass of rubbish is somewhat assorted, the
cinders are separated and used for fuel for the boilers and
furnaces (no coal whatever is allowed in the yard), the remaining
portion of the rubbish along with some most vile and abominable
matter which occasionally comes to the yard in the pails, is taken
to the Carbonisers (of which there is a nest of eight in the yard),
and the obnoxious material is therein carbonised and is resolved
into a perfectly harmless material.
In another part of the yard is a second set of furnaces which are
called destructors, and are used for the purpose of destroying
rubbish, which before-time, for many years past, has been
deposited in large heaps in every suburb of the city, to the great
annoyance of the inhabitants whose fate it was to live in the
vicinities of these deposits. These destructors not only consume
this objectionable material, but they furnish heat to a concretor
which is placed in close contiguity. The spent fuel is carted to
the mills, and is there converted into mortar--a mortar, too,
of the best description--as the samples of brickwork built with
it and exhibited abundantly testify. This concretor, which is
driven by steam power, is a large cylinder of a peculiar internal
construction, which exposes an extensive evaporating surface to the
heat from the destructor, which passes through the cylinder from
end to end. The work of this concretor is to subject the urine or
liquid portion of the contents of the pails fed by means of the
troughs already spoken of in connection with the tank. The urine
is pumped from this tank into the concretor at the rate of about
150 gallons per hour. The concentrated urine, which contains a
large quantity of ammonia, is mixed with two-thirds its weight of
charcoal, and the composition forms a most valuable manure.
The carboniser, the destructor, and the concretor have all been
invented and patented by Mr. Alfred Fryer, of the firm of Manlove,
Alliot & Co., engineers, Nottingham. The process of carbonising is
patented by the Universal Charcoal Company, Limited, who are to
receive a royalty, we understand, from the Health Committee for the
use of their patent. There is a tall and noble-looking chimney in
the centre of the yard surrounded by many new buildings and sheds,
and this has been built with the concrete mortar manufactured by
the Health Committee.
Such is the gigantic scale upon which these matters are dealt with
in the City of Manchester.
The other methods, to which reference has been made, for the
disposal of town refuse require no further comment, as it is
evident that unless a ready sale for the refuse can be effected, by
far the best method of disposing of it seems to be that by which
it is completely annihilated by fire in the manner that has been
described, or in some other similar manner.
Having thus far followed the house refuse from its first appearance
in its cradle, the dustbin, through its chequered career after
collection down to its decease, either by burial, or by cremation,
the question of the cost of the whole of this work must be deferred
until the final chapter, after I have dealt with the subject of
street sweeping and cleansing, the removal of snow, and a short
chapter upon street watering, which is somewhat analagous to
scavenging, and is frequently included in the accounts of that work
in the estimates which are prepared by a Local Authority.
CHAPTER VII.
"STREET CLEANSING."
Clean well-swept streets not only add materially to the prosperous
appearance of a town, but they also have a very marked influence
upon its health and upon the morale of its inhabitants; wet, and
muddy, badly formed, ill-drained streets, cause dampness in the
subsoil of the dwelling-houses in the vicinity, and a humidity in
the atmosphere, both of which tend to produce a low standard of
health in their neighbourhood, irrespective of the wet surface
through which pedestrians have to wade whenever they are obliged
to cross such streets. Dusty streets, too, are very injurious
from the fact of persons inhaling the gritty silicate loaded air
arising from them; such an atmosphere is known to produce disease
of the lungs, even when it is free from the dust arising from horse
droppings or other organic impurities. Professor Tyndall, in his
beautiful experiments, has proved that dusty air is alive with the
germs of the bacteria of putrefaction, whilst the pure fresh air
which he gathered on a mountain peak in the Alps is innocent of
such germs, and is absolutely powerless to produce any organisms.
Persons living in streets that are improperly swept or watered are
unable to open the doors or windows of their houses with impunity
by reason of the dust.
The definition of the word _street_, as given in the Public Health
Act, 1875, is as follows:--"Street includes any highway (not
being a turnpike road), and any public bridge (not being a county
bridge), and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley, or
passage, whether a thoroughfare or not."
With reference to turnpike roads the Act further states that any
Urban Authority may by agreement with the Trustees of any turnpike
road, or with the Surveyor of any county bridge, take on themselves
the maintenance, repair, cleansing, or watering of such street or
road.
It is very questionable, however, whether the onus of cleansing
private courts and alleys which are not repairable by the Urban
Authority should be borne by them, although for the sake of the
public health it is highly desirable that such work should be so
undertaken.
The great difficulty attached to this duty arises from the fact
that as a rule these private courts and alleys are very badly
paved, if paved at all, full of pits, where pools of stagnant mud
and water collect, and even in the best cases, the interstices
between the pebbles, or other paving, are filled with filth arising
in great measure from the dirty habits of the people, and this
filth it is found exceedingly difficult to dislodge. The remedy
for this is to compel the owners of the abutting properties to
have the courts and alleys properly paved with asphalte, or other
equally impervious material, after which it would be easy for the
Urban Authority to cause them to be swept at least once a day, and
flushed with water in the hot weather once a week, but in order to
compel the owners to execute this very desirable work it would be
necessary to put the complicated machinery of section 150 of the
Public Health Act, 1875, in force, and the expense to the landlords
would be in many cases very disproportionate to the value of their
property.
Out of the ninety towns to which reference has before been made,
the authorities of only nineteen of them cleanse the private courts
and alleys in their jurisdiction. The sweeping and cleansing of
streets should be effected either at night or very early in the
morning; if, however, the bad practice of bringing the house refuse
out into the streets in inappropriate receptacles is in vogue, it
becomes necessary to sweep the street later in the day, after the
contents of these receptacles has been removed. In most cases it
is necessary to cleanse the principal streets of a town at least
once a day, and this appears to be the practice of nearly all the
ninety towns referred to, but only seven of them appear to have
this operation repeated more frequently; in several cases, however,
the horse droppings, &c., are removed at once, under what is called
the "orderly" system, and this is especially necessary in streets
that are paved with such materials as wood paving, asphalte, or
granite setts. The suburban streets of a town need only be cleansed
once or twice a week, except in special cases of extremes of mud or
snow. It is important, however, that the gully pits in all parts
of the town should be cleared out constantly, and men should be
employed for this purpose, as well as to cleanse and disinfect all
the cabstands and public urinals at least once every day.
Street cleansing is effected either by hand-sweeping and
hand-scraping, or by machinery. As to which is the most economical
much depends upon the value of labour, and also upon the condition
of the roads to be dealt with, but in point of time and as a
general rule the value of a horse rotary brush-sweeping machine
is undoubted, the only time at which such a machine fails to do
effective work is on the occasions when the mud to be removed
(owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere), has attained
a semi-solidity, and is of a stiff and sticky consistency, when
it either adheres to and clogs the brushes of the machine, or is
flattened by them on to the road instead of being removed.
The simplest and best of these machines, in my opinion, is that
manufactured by Messrs. Smith & Sons, of Barnard Castle. It sweeps
a clear width of six feet, the rotary brush, which is divided into
four or more parts, works diagonally, it is drawn easily by one
horse, clearing itself of mud or dust in its progress, and the
makers say that it can sweep 15,000 square yards of road surface in
one hour, this being equivalent to the ordinary work of about 50
men in the same time!
The price of this machine is £30, and being of very simple
construction it costs little or nothing in repairs, except for the
brushes, which last for about 180 hours when in constant work.
These can, however, be replaced at a cost of £2 15s. per set,
or the old stocks can be refilled with bass, at a more moderate
figure. It is, of course, necessary to sweep the ridge of dust
or mud which is left by the machine at the side of the street
into heaps by hand labour, and to remove it by carts; other
machines have been invented for cleansing streets, which by means
of elevators, or other gear, profess to raise the mud or dust
direct into the carts, which are to be attached at the back of the
machine, but hitherto these machines have been found to be too
cumbersome, costly, and complicated for the purpose, and they have
not consequently found much favour with Sanitary Authorities.
Messrs. Smith & Sons also construct a patent road scraping machine,
which is drawn by one horse, and which will, they say, scrape
upwards of 10,000 square yards of road surface in an hour.
The strength and durability of the hand brooms purchased by an
Urban Authority for the work of sweeping the streets is of some
importance, as affecting the ultimate cost of the work, and some
care and skill is required in their selection.
Bass brooms are better than birch brooms for this purpose, and the
bass of which the brooms are made should be sufficiently stout and
of regular thickness; it should be tough and elastic, not old, dry,
and brittle, each knot should be of uniform size and be firmly
set, and the number of knots in each broom head is also a matter
of choice. A convenient and fair test of the soundness of a broom
is to soak it for a few days in water before issuing it to the
sweeper, and then note the time it will last. The handles of the
brooms should be made of alder wood.
The mode of construction of streets, and the materials of which
they are formed, makes a considerable difference in the amount of
cleansing necessary, and upon the quantity of mud or dust that has
to be removed from their surface. In making any investigations for
the purpose of deciding what difference exists in the question of
cleansing various forms and descriptions of pavements, climatic
influence introduces a rather disturbing element, which may
seriously affect any conclusions that may be drawn; it may,
however, be taken for granted that a street, the surface of which
is metalled on the macadam principle with stones of a soft or
gritty character, will require more cleansing and be more costly to
scavenge (under the same conditions of climate and traffic), than
a street paved with the hardest granite setts or with blocks of
wood, or with asphalte, and at the same time much care will have
to be taken not to _over_ sweep or _over_ scrape a road with a
macadamised surface, or much injury will be done to it.
Amongst the influences that disturb the results of any
investigations made with respect to street cleansing, that of the
amount and character of the traffic over it must not be lost sight
of, and the state of repair and gradient of the street are both
of considerable importance in affecting the results, the practice
too, of bringing out the house refuse into the streets in improper
receptacles pending the arrival of the scavengers' cart, must also
cause a varying amount of refuse to be swept from its surface,
depending upon the habits of the persons living in the street.
The Superintendent of the Scavenging Department at Liverpool has
made some observations and obtained some valuable information on
these points, which he has detailed in a report he presented to the
Health Committee of that borough in the year 1877, an abstract of
which is as follows:--
GROSS COST FOR EACH TIME OF CLEANSING 10,000 YARDS SUPERFICIAL OF
DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS OF ROADWAY IN THE BOROUGH OF LIVERPOOL.
[Part 1 of 2]
+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+---------+
| | | | |
| | | |Condition|
| | | |of repair|
| Street. | Description of | When paved. | of |
| | pavement. | |roadway. |
| | | | |
+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+---------+
| | | | |
|Lord St. |{ Granite setts, }| 1877 |Very good|
| |{ asphalte joints }| | |
| | | | |
|North John St. | Ditto | 1872 | Good |
| | | | |
|Tithebarn St. |{ Granite setts, }| 1872 and 1874 | Bad |
| |{ ordinary joints }| | |
| | | | |
|West Derby Rd. |{ Ditto, asphalte }| 1876 |Very good|
| |{ joints }| | |
| | | | |
|Great Howard St.| Ditto | 1877 | Good |
| | | | |
|Great Homer St. |{ Ditto, ordinary }|Not ascertainable|Moderate |
| |{ joints }| | |
| | | | |
|Kensington St. |{ Macadam breasted}| Ditto | Good |
| |{ with setts }| | |
| | | | |
|Stanley Rd. | Ditto | Ditto | Bad |
+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+---------+