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23
SECTION III.—SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.
Staff.—At the end of the year there were on the staff of the Sanitary Section
of the Department, one Chief Sanitary Inspector, ten male Inspectors, one female
Inspector and two part-time female Inspectors.
Mr. T. Powell, who entered the service of the Council on the 18th April, 1904,
retired on the 30th April, on reaching the age limit, and Mr. E. Lewis, who was
appointed to the vacancy so created, commenced duty on the 1st May.
Water Supply.—The water supply of the Borough is under the control of the
Metropolitan Water Board, and no complaints were received as to the quality of
the water supply during the year.
Removal and Disposal of Refuse.—House refuse is collected and disposed of
by direct labour in Woolwich and is under the control of the Works Committee of
the Council. Collection is made once weekly with the exception of a small central
area where a twice-weekly collection is made. All refuse is disposed of by burning
at the Council's destructor, White Hart Lane.
The collection and disposal of house refuse was the subject of a report by a
special sub-committee appointed to consider the possibility of re-organising the
above service with a view to reducing the cost. From the report it appeared that
the cost of collection averaged 7s. 3d. a ton in Woolwich, and 13s. 3d. a ton in
Eltham, and that the two principal factors causing this difference were: (a) the
great distance the refuse has to be hauled from Eltham to the Plumstead Destructor,
and (b) the difficulty in keeping the loaders continually employed whilst the lorries
were making their journeys to the Destructor.
After careful consideration the sub-committee recommended that the needs of
the Eltham district would be best met by adopting the "Pagefield" system, a system
which consists of collection by motor vehicles working in conjunction with horsedrawn
vehicles. The Council adopted this report and the change-over took place
gradually as the vehicles were obtained.
From a public health point of view the new method is much better than the old,
insomuch as refuse is not scattered over the public highway during loading.