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1ll
HOUSE REFUSE.
The collection of dust and ashes, and miscellaneous refuse from
upwards of 20,000 houses, in an area of more than 2,000 acres, is
no light task, and complaints of neglect were habitual when the
work was carried out under the contract system. So frequent,
indeed, did complaints become at last, that a desire to satisfy the
legitimate requirements of the parishioners in respect of the
removal of house refuse, had its due influence in determining your
Vestry, in 1877, to abolish the contract system altogether, and
undertake the collection with an ample staff and plant. The
result has justified the decision, for the work has been done in an
increasingly satisfactory manner: complaints are now rare, and
even applications for removal of the dust are comparatively few in
number. Oftentimes, moreover, when the dustmen, or your
Vestry, get censured for alleged neglect, it turns out on enquiry
that the domestic servants are to blame—the hour of the dustman's
call is "inconvenient"; or "the steps have just been
cleaned"; such excuses, or some other excuse equally valid from
a servant's point of view being deemed sufficient justification for
the perpetuation of a nuisance. And nuisance always arises from
the improper use of the receptacle by the deposit therein of animal
and vegetable refuse; of which it may be said that the former
has an appreciable value, and should be utilized, while the latter
admits of being burned on the kitchen fire. A notification to this
effect was left at every house in the parish in 1873, and subsequently
repeated, not, I fear, with any conspicuously good result.
A strong effort has been made to systematise the work of dust
collection by dividing the parish into districts, and providing for
the inspection of dust bins and for supervision of the "dustinggangs."
The one thing needful for success is a systematic call at
every house once a week. Hitherto the rule, or at any rate the
order, has been that a dust cart should go through each street
once a week on a given day, and that a call should be made at
each house once a fortnight. If the plan of a weekly call could be
organised, it should be understood that if, through default of
domestic servants, or any other cause beyond the control of your
Vestry, the receptacle is not emptied on the appointed day, no
further attendance could be given in the same week.