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13
house refuse from the inhabited houses in this large parish (about 27,000).
The work is not a light one in itself, and from the altered circumstances under
which it has been carried on of late years, it has become in each succeeding
year increasingly onerous to all concerned.
The principal change referred to, and which has been the cause of
others, will be at once seen from the following Statement:—
For the Removal The Vestry received from
of Dust from Contractors the Sum of
June, 1865 to June, 1866 £1285
,, 1866 to „ 1867 £2200
„ 1867 to „ 1868 £140
Being in this latter case the difference between the sums which were both paid and received.
June, 1868 to June, 1869 £200
The Vestry paid to Contractors
the sum of
June, 1869 to June, 1870 £1.795
„ 1870 to „ 1871 £2937
„ 1871 to „ 1872 £4057
And the Vestry have just contracted to pay for nine months, from June, 1872, to March, 1873, the sum of £3204
being at about the same rate as the year under review, if some allowance
be made for the two winter quarters being included in the nine months'
contract.
It will be therefore noticed that the Vestry, in the year 1866-7,
received from a Contractor the large sum of £2200 for the privilege of
being allowed to collect the dust, which, at that time and previously, was
without doubt a saleable commodity of considerable value.
Under such conditions it is obvious that the Contractor himself would
see that his men exercised diligence, in order that they might obtain for him
that for which he had paid, and which would handsomely repay him for his
trouble and labour.
The inhabitants were generally well served, and the dustmen, who
were much better paid than they are now, had then neither the time
nor the necessity to seek other means of personal advantage, as it was to
their own interest to collect for their employer as many loads as they could
in the shortest possible time, and, as a consequence, only the smallest amount