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63
DISPOSAL OF DUST.
During the whole of the year the Vestry have sifted and disposed
of dust, and the total amount receivable from this source is £811 16s. od.
The quantity of dust collected was 12,662 loads, and the sum
expended in sifting and loading was £791 3s. 8d. The cost of disposing
of hard core and that of the necessary tools was £9 7s. 10d.
Although these figures do not show the favourable result of the
Vestry's trading as some members of your Board at one time
anticipated, yet the work has conduced to largely reduce the cost of
removing the house refuse of the District.
It must not be forgotten that, while the Vestry have disposed of
their refuse at a very small cost indeed, other districts have paid large
sums for a similar purpose.
It is not too much to say that, had not this work have been undertaken
by the Vestry, the cost of disposal of refuse for the current year
by a contractor would have been £1050, in addition to the cost
of collection : and it would not have been an unreasonable sum either,
when it is considered that 12,662 loads of material have to be manipulated
and disposed of.
There is always a portion of the material collected from houses
which cannot be got rid of for any useful purpose, and with it there is
always great difficulty of disposal. The quantity of dust increases
annually, and the question of destroying the useless portion is one
which should be undertaken by your Committee without delay. That
a large portion of the house refuse of London will have to be destroyed
by burning before long is, to my mind, a positive certainty; and the
districts who have such a means at their disposal in time of need will
be more likely to sell ashes and breeze at a profit than those who are
compelled by circumstances to give it away, or pay for its reception by
contractors, nothing could be better than the facilities afforded the
Vestry by the Great Eastern Railway Company at Devonshire Street
Station, and no difficulty of any description has arisen during the year.
Brickmaking has not been a profitable business since last season, the
stocks of bricks in all the Essex yards being large ; and as so little
building is taking place this year, I much fear that the make for next
year will be much less than it has been this. The prices of ashes and
breeze must therefore come down with that of bricks, and I fear that
I shall not be able to report so favourably on the result of next
year's work.
LIGHTING.
The public lamps, 902 in number, have been supplied, lighted,
painted, and cleaned by the Commercial Gas Company, at a cost of
£3583 15s. 10d
SEWERS.
Fifteen new gullies have been constructed and 53 houses have
been connected with the sewers belonging to the Vestry during
the year.
The cost of cleansing the principal sewers and gullies in the
Hamlet was £551 13s. 10d.
Four-hundred and fifteen cubic yards of soil have been removed
from the gullies, and 312 yards from the sewers of the Vestry.