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REPORT, 1893-94.
95
The only way to overcome the difficulty is to
cremate the rough dust, as is done in many provincial
towns, and also in several parts of the Metropolis, and
sooner or later this plan will have to be adopted, and
generally, I believe, throughout the whole of the
Metropolis, or else a speedy method must be devised
to boat it away directly it is brought to the depots, as
it is evident that the framers of the Public Health
Act, 1891, contemplated the abolition of dust wharves
in close proximity to residences.
From the month of April until the end of September,
each dust-bin, after emptying, was thoroughly
sprinkled with carbolic powder by the dustmen.
In the collection of the rough dust during the year
the men were employed 303 days, 5,952 horses and
vans being engaged in the work; 25,704½ loads were
collected, giving a daily average of 84.83 loads, or
4.31 loads per horse per day, the maximum loads
collected in one week being 709, and the minimum
320 ; the cost of collecting being £1,972 0s. 7d., and
of sifting £1,785 2s.
Materials abstracted.—The following miscellaneous
materials were abstracted from the before-mentioned
loads of rough dust:—15,081 chaldrons of ashes,
8,267½ chaldrons of breeze, 5 cart loads and 22 boat
loads of hard core, or 572 tons; 255 boats of soft
core, or 4,503¾ tons; 16 tons of coals, 50 tons 13 cwt.