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74
In addition to the 11 conveniences above mentioned, there are 32 public
urinals for men. One urinal in Millbank was abolished when the new
convenience at Lambeth Bridge was completed.
Public Cleansing.—This is carried out by a separate department of
the City Council under the City Cleansing Superintendent. There is
a daily collection of refuse throughout the City and the figures for the
Council year ended 31st March, 1934, are as follows :—
Tons.
House refuse collected 87,062
Trade refuse collected 1,646
Total barged away 88,708
Modernization of Transport. —During the early part of the year three
new motor refuse collecting vehicles were purchased and thirteen of the
present fleet of the open-body type were converted to totally enclosed
bodies.
In November a motor sweeper and collector of the latest type was
purchased, which combined the operations of sweeping and collecting
or picking up the refuse from the streets and conveying it to the disposal
depot.
In December the City Cleansing Superintendent put forward a comprehensive
scheme for the complete modernization of the Council's
transport, extending over a period of four years at an approximate cost
of £45,000. This scheme provided for the entire replacement of the
horse transport and obsolete motor transport and was anticipated to
effect not only a considerable saving in cost but greater efficiency in
working.
Refuse Collection by " Container System." —The scheme also provided
for the inauguration of a " Container System " of refuse collection for
large hotels and blocks of flats, &c. This system provides for the hiring
from the Council of metal refuse containers of either 1¼ or 2¾ cubic yards
capacity, which are collected at arranged intervals and replaced by
clean empty containers. This system is not only advantageous to
the hirers from an hygienic point of view but saves considerable time
to the Council by dispensing with the necessary labour required for the
collecting, emptying and returning of large numbers of bins.
The Council agreed to the report in principle and gave authority to
proceed with the purchase of small quantities of the various units in
order that an extended trial could be made.