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33
III. SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA.
The Report of the Departmental Committee on London Cleansing expresses
the view "that each Metropolitan Borough Council should appoint a separate
Public Cleansing Committee to direct and supervise the work of collecting refuse
and cleansing streets, and to be responsible for the organisation and maintenance
of transport, the employees and all other matters relating to the Service."
The Council, being desirous to improve the Public Cleansing Service in
the Borough and to reduce the cost of that Service, set up the Public Cleansing
Committee in Tune to deal with —
Scavenging
(a) the collection of house refuse and trade refuse;
(b) the sweeping and cleansing of highways;
(c) the disposal of refuse collected under (a) and (b); and
(d) the cleansing of sewers and gulleys.
In July, a Public Cleansing Officer for the Borough was appointed.
The Borough Engineer has kindly supplied me with the following
information:—
"From the Dusting returns for the whole of the Borough it would appear
that in the Eastern District which is evidently a residential district, the dust
collection is undertaken once weekly—different areas on different days.
In the Western District, which is mainly a business area, many of the
premises have a daily collection. A high percentage have collections twice
weekly. The Post Office, Police Stations, shelters and cafes appear to have a
daily collection.
In the Southern District the same arrangement holds good. The private
houses have collection once weekly. The restaurants and public offices have a
daily collection. Large blocks of flats have a bi-weekly collection."
Those of us who come in close and frequent contact with the inhabitants of
the smaller streets in the Borough know how important is the question of dust
collection.
Where there are coppers with facilities for burning rubbish or where there
are grates with open fires there is no reason why much of the household rubbish
should not be burned. But it is obvious to anyone who knows the many oneroomed
or two-roomed families in the district that such facilities are not
practicable.
The question of more frequent removal of refuse from these crowded
districts is one which requires consideration from the Public Health point of
view. There is always a great deal of putrescible matter in household refuse
which is a source of danger to health and also an offence in hot weather. The
remedy would appear to be in more frequent collection and removal of refuse
from the poor and thickly populated areas.
The responsibility of the local authority does not end with the collection of
refuse and the scavenging of the streets. There is another expensive factor
involved, namely, the disposal of the collected material. Stepney refuse is
disposed of by River—at Duke Shore Wharf; Railway—at Pinchin Street
Depot and Devonshire Street Depot; Incineration—at Gunthorpe Street
Depot