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4,634 chaldrons of breeze have been sent away by
507 boats, and 4,201 chaldrons of ashes and 2,311
chaldrons of breeze have been taken away by carts.
The amounts realised by the sales of ashes and
breeze have not improved during the past season,
owing in a great measure to the depressed condition
of the ordinary brickmaking trade, and also to the
extensive use of ornamental red bricks, as in their
manufacture neither ashes nor breeze form a part;
but I believe the principal reduction in the sales
must be attributed to the fact that the general
annual supply now far exceeds the demand, due in
a great measure to the growth of the metropolis.
Consequently the ultimate disposal of house refuse
will have to be seriously considered, both in a sanitary
and economical point of view. Local Boards
will, I fear, experience great difficulty in carrying
their house refuse into outlying districts without
great expense being incurred, especially as the
urban and sanitary authorities every year are
getting more particular in this respect.
It is admitted that cremation offers the readiest
means of getting rid of a very large portion of town
refuse, and the City Sewers Commissioners are now
erecting destructors at their wharves at Lambeth,
for the purpose of destroying a large portion of the
refuse collected in the City of London, so that the