Volume 2 — Of the Streets of London.

There are now three modes of pavement in the streets of the metropolis.

1. The stone pavement (commonly composed of Aberdeen granite).

2. The macadamized pavement, or rather road.

3. The wood pavement.

The stone pavement has generally, in the several towns of England, been composed of whatever material the quarries or rocks of the neighbourhood supplied, limestone being often thus used. In some places, where there were no quarries available, the stones of a river or rivulet-side were used, but these were rounded and slippery, and often formed but a rugged pathway. For London pavement, the neighbourhood not being rich in stone quarries, granite has usually been brought by water from Scotland, and a small quantity from Guernsey for the pavement of the streets. The stone pavement is made by the placing of the granite stones, hewn and shaped ready for the purpose, side by side, with a foundation of concrete. The concrete now used for the London street-pavement is Thames ballast, composed of shingles, or small stones, and mixed with lime, &c.

Macadamization was not introduced into the streets of London until about 25 years ago. Before that, it had been carried to what was accounted a great degree of perfection on many of the principal mail and coach roads. Some 50 miles on the Great North Road, or that between London and Carlisle, were often pointed out as an admirable specimen of road-making on Mac Adam’s principles. This road was well known in the old coaching days as Leming-lane, running from Boroughbridge to Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire.

The first thoroughfare in London which was macadamized, a word adapted from the name of Sir W. Mac Adam, the originator or great improver of the system, was St. James’s-square; after that, some of the smaller streets in the aristocratic parishes of St. James and St. George were thus paved, and then, but not without great opposition, Piccadilly. The opposition to the macadamizing of the latter thoroughfare assumed many forms. Independently of the conflicting statements as to extravagance and economy, it was urged by the opponents, that the dust and dirt of the new style of paving would cause the street to be deserted by the aristocracy—that the noiselessness of the traffic would cause the deaths of the deaf and infirm—that the aristocracy promoted this new-fangled street-making, that they might the better “sleep o’ nights,” regardless of all else. One writer especially regretted that the Duke of Queensberry, popularly known as “Old Q.,” who resided at the western end of Piccadilly, had not lived to enjoy, undisturbed by vulgar noises, his bed of down, until it was his hour to rise and take his bath of perfumed milk! In short, there was all the fuss and absurdity which so often characterise local contests.

The macadamized street is made by a layer of stones, broken small and regular in size, and spread evenly over the road, so that the pressure and friction of the traffic will knead, grind, crush, and knit them into one compact surface. Until road-making became better understood, or until the early part of the present century, the roads even in the suburbs immediately connected with London, such as Islington, Kingsland, Stoke Newington, and Hackney, were “repaired when they wanted it.” If there were a “rut,” or a hole, it was filled up or covered over with stones, and as the drivers usually avoided such parts, for the sake of their horses’ feet, another rut was speedily formed alongside of the original one. Under the old system, road-mending was patch-work; defects were sought to be remedied, but there was little or no knowledge of constructing or of reconstructing the surface as a whole.

The wood pavement came last, and was not established, even partially, until eleven or twelve years ago. One of the earliest places so paved was the Old Bailey, in order that the noise of the street-traffic might be deadened in the Criminal Courts. The same plan was adopted alongside some of the churches, and other public buildings, where external quietude, or, at any rate, diminished noise, was desired. At the first, there were great complaints made, and frequent expostulations addressed to the editors of the newspapers, as to the slipperiness of the wooden ways. The wood pavement is formed of blocks of wood, generally deal, fitted to one another by grooves, by joints, or by shape, for close adjustment. They are placed on the road over a body of concrete, in the same way as granite.

“In constructing roads, or rather streets, through towns or cities, where the amount of traffic is considerable, it will be found desirable,” says Mr. Law, in his ‘Treatise on the Constructing and Repairing of Roads,’ “to pave their surface. The advantages belonging to pavements in such situations over macadamized roads are considerable; where the latter are exposed to an incessant and heavy traffic, their surface becomes rapidly worn, rendering constant repairs requisite, which are not only attended with very heavy expense, but also render the road very unpleasant for being travelled upon while being done; they also require much more attention in the way of scraping or sweeping, and in raking in ruts. And some difficulty would be experienced in towns to find places in which the materials, which would be constantly wanted for repairing the road, could be deposited. In dry weather the macadamized road would always be dusty, and in wet weather it would be covered with mud. The only advantage which such a road really possesses over a pavement is the less noise produced by carriages in passing over it; but this advantage is very small when the pavement is properly laid.”

Concerning wood pavements the same gentleman says, “Of late years wood has been introduced as a material for paving streets, and has been rather extensively employed both in Russia and America. It has been tried in various parts of London, and generally with small success, the cause of its failure being identical with the cause of the enormous sums being spent annually in the repairs of the streets generally, namely, the want of a proper foundation; a want which was sooner felt with wood than with granite, in consequence of the less weight and inertia of the wood. The comfort resulting from the use of wooden pavement, both to those who travelled, and those who lived in the streets, from the diminished jolting and noise, was so great, that it is just matter of surprise that so little care was taken in forming that which a very little consideration would have shown to be indispensable to its success, namely, a good foundation. Slipperiness of its surface, in particular states of the weather, was also found to be a disadvantage belonging to wooden pavement; but means might be devised which would render its surface at all times safe, and afford a secure footing for horses. As regards durability, it has scarcely been used for a sufficient period to allow a comparison being made with other materials, but from the result of some observations communicated by Mr. Hope to the Scottish Society of Arts, it appears that wooden blocks when placed with the end of the grain exposed, wear less than granite. At first sight, this result might appear questionable, but it is a well-ascertained fact that, where wood and iron move in contact in machinery, the iron generally wears more rapidly than the wood, the reason appearing to be, that the surface of the wood soon becomes covered with particles of dust and grit, which become partially embedded in it, and, while they serve to protect the wood, convert its surface into a species of file, which rapidly wears away whatever it rubs against.”

Such then are the different modes of constructing the London roads or streets. I shall now endeavour to show the relative length, and relative cost of the streets thus severally prepared for the commercial, professional, and pleasurable transit of the metropolis.

The comparative extent of the macadamized, of the stone, and of the wood pavement of the streets of the metropolis has not as yet been ascertained, for no general account has appeared condensing the reports, returns, accounts, &c., of the several specific bodies of management into one grand total.

It is, however, possible to arrive at an approximation as to the comparative extent I have spoken of; and in this attempt at approximation, in the absence of all means of a definite statistical computation, I have had the assistance of an experienced and practical surveyor, familiar with the subject.

Macadamization prevails beyond the following boundaries:—

North of the New-road and of its extension, as the City-road, and westward of the New-road’s junction with Lisson-grove.

Westward of Park-lane and of the West-end parks.

Eastward of Brick-lane (Spitalfields) and of the Whitechapel High-street.

Southward (on the Surrey side) from the New-cut and Long-lane, Bermondsey, and both in the eastern and western direction of Southwark, Lambeth, and the other southern parishes.

Stone pavement, on the other hand, prevails in the district which may be said to be within this boundary, bearing down upon the Thames in all directions.

It is, doubtlessly, the fact that in both the districts thus indicated exceptions to the general rule may prevail—that in one, for instance, there may be some miles of macadamized way, and in the other some miles of granite pavements; but such exceptions, I am told by a Commissioner of Paving, may fairly be dismissed as balancing each other.

The wooden pavement, I am informed on the same authority, does not now comprise five miles of the London thoroughfares; little notice, therefore, need be taken of it.

The miles of streets in the City in which stone only affords the street medium of locomotion are 50. The stone pavement in the localities outside of this area are six times, or approaching to seven times, the extent of that in the City. I have no actual admeasurement to demonstrate this point, for none exists, and no private individual can offer to measure hundreds of miles of streets in order to ascertain the composition of their surface. But the calculation has been made for me by a gentleman thoroughly conversant with the subject, and well acquainted with the general relative proportion of the defined districts, parishes, and boroughs of the metropolis.

We have thus the following result, as regards the inner police district, or Metropolis Proper:—

Miles.

Granite paved streets400

Macadamized ditto (or roads)1350

Wood ditto5

Total1755

This may appear a disproportionate estimate, but when it is remembered that the inner police district of the metropolis extends as far as Hampstead, Tooting, Brentford, and Greenwich, it will be readily perceived that the relative proportions of the macadamized and paved roads are much about the same as is here stated.

As to the cost of these several roads, I will, before entering upon that part of the subject, state the prices of the different materials used in their manufacture.

Aberdeen granite is now 1l. 5s. per ton, delivered, and prepared for paving, or, as it is often called, “pitching.” A ton of “seven inch” granite, that is, granite sunk seven inches in the ground, will cover from two and three-quarters to three square yards, superficial measure, or nine feet per yard. The cost, labour included, is, therefore, from 9s. to 12s. the square yard. This appears very costly; but in some of the more quiet streets, such as those in the immediate neighbourhood of Golden and Fitzroy-squares, a good granite pavement will endure for 20 years, requiring little repair. In other streets, such as Cheapside, for instance, it lasts from three to four years, without repavement being necessary, supposing the best construction has been originally adopted.

For macadamized streets, where there is a traffic like that of Tottenham Court-road, three layers of small broken granite a year are necessary; the cost of this repavement being about 2s. 6d. a yard superficial measure. The repairs and relayings on macadamized roads of regular traffic range from 4s. to 6s. 6d. yearly, the square yard.

The wood pavement, which endures, with a trifling outlay for repairs, for about three years, costs, on an average, 11s. the square yard.

The concrete used as a foundation in this street-construction costs 4s. 6d. a cube yard, or 27 feet, by which admeasurement it is always calculated. A cube yard of Thames ballast weighs about 1¼ ton.

The average cost of street-building, new, taking an average breadth, or about ten yards, from footpath to footpath, is then—

Per Mile.

£.s.d.

Granite built9600

Macadamized4400

Wood8800

Or, as a total,

400 miles of granite paved streets at £96 per mile38,40000

1350 macadamized ditto, at £44 per mile59,40000

5 wood ditto, at £88 per mile44000

98,24000

This, then (about £100,000), is the original cost of the roads of the metropolis.

The cost of repairs, &c., annually, is shown by the amount of the paving rate, which may be taken as an average.

£s.d.

400 miles of granite, at 20s. per mile40000

1350 macadamized ditto, at £13 4s. per mile17,82000

5 wood[13] ditto, at 20s. per mile500

Total18,22500

According to a “General Survey of the Metropolitan Highways,” by Mr. Thomas Hughes, the principal roads leading out of London are:—

1. The Cambridge Road, from Shoreditch through Kingsland.

2. The Epping and Chelmsford Roads, from Whitechapel, through Bow and Stratford.

3. The Barking Road, along the Commercial Road past Limehouse.

4. The Dover Road, from the Elephant and Castle, across Blackheath.

5. The Brighton Roads, (a) through Croydon, (b) through Sutton.

6. The Guildford Road, along the Westminster Road through Battersea and Wandsworth.

7. The Staines, or Great Western Road, from Knightsbridge through Brentford.

8. The Amersham and Aylesbury Road, along the Harrow Road, and through Harrow-on-the-Hill.

9. The St. Alban’s Road, along the Edgeware Road through Elstree.

10. The Oxford Road, from Bayswater through Ealing.

11. The Great Holyhead Road.From Islington, by and through Barnet.

12. The Great North Road.

As to the amount of resistance to traction offered by different kinds of pavement, or the same pavement under different circumstances, the following are the general results of the experiments made by M. Morin, at the expense of the French Government:—

1st. The traction is directly proportional to the load, and inversely proportional to the diameter of the wheel.

2nd. Upon a paved, or hard macadamized road, the resistance is independent of the width of the tire, when it exceeds from three to four inches.

3rd. At a walking pace the traction is the same, under the same circumstances, for carriages with springs and without them.

4th. Upon hard macadamized, and upon paved roads, the traction increases with the velocity: the increments of traction being directly proportional to the increments of velocity above the velocity 3·28 feet per second, or about 2¼ miles per hour. The equal increment of traction thus due to each equal increment of velocity is less as the road is more smooth, and the carriage less rigid or better hung.

5th. Upon soft roads of earth, or sand, or turf, or roads fresh and thickly gravelled, the traction is independent of the velocity.

6th. Upon a well-made and compact pavement of hewn stones, the traction at a walking pace is not more than three-fourths of that upon the best macadamized roads under similar circumstances; at a trotting pace it is equal to it.

7th. The destruction of the road is in all cases greater, as the diameters of the wheels are less, and it is greater in carriages without than with springs.

In Sir H. Parnell’s book on roads, p. 73, we are told that Sir John Macneill, by means of an instrument invented by himself for measuring the tractive force required on different kinds of road, obtained the following general results as to the power requisite to move a ton weight under ordinary circumstances, at a very low velocity.

Description of Road.Force, in pounds, required to move a ton.

On a well-made pavement33

On a road made with six inches of broken stone of great hardness, laid either on a foundation of large stones, set in the form of a pavement, or upon a bottoming of concrete46

On an old flint road, or a road made with a thick coating of broken stone, laid on earth65

On a road made with a thick coating of gravel, laid on earth147

In the same work the relative degrees of resistance to traction on the several kinds of roads are thus expressed:—

On a timber surface2

On a paved road2

On a well-made broken stone road, in a dry clean state5

On a well-made broken stone road, covered with dust8

On a well-made broken stone road, wet and muddy10

On a gravel or flint road, in a dry clean state13

On a gravel or flint road, in a wet muddy state32

Of the Traffic of London.

I have shown (at p. 159, vol. ii.) that the number of miles of streets included in the Inner District of the Metropolitan Police is 1750.

Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his excellent “Handbook of Modern London,” tells us that “the streets of the Metropolis, if put together, would measure 3000 miles in length;” but he does not inform us what limits he assigns to the said metropolis; it would seem, however, that he refers to the Outer Police District: and in another place he cites the following as the extent of some of the principal thoroughfares:—

New-road5115yds. long, ornearly3miles.

Oxford-street2304„„1½„

Regent-street1730„„1„

Piccadilly1690„

City-road1690„

Strand1396„

Of the two great lines of streets parallel to the river, the one extending along Oxford-street, Holborn, Cheapside, Cornhill, and Whitechapel to the Regent’s-canal, Mile-end, is, says Mr. McCulloch, “above six miles in length;” while that which stretches from Knightsbridge along Piccadilly, the Haymarket, Pall-mall East, the Strand, Fleet-street, Watling-street, Eastcheap, Tower-street, and so on by Ratcliffe-highway to the West India Docks, is, according to the same authority, about equal in length to the other. Mr. Weale asserts, as we have already seen, that the greatest length of street from east to west is about fourteen miles, and from north to south about thirteen miles. The number of streets in London is said to be 10,000, though upon what authority the statement is made, and within what compass it is meant to be applied, I have not been able to ascertain. It is calculated, however, that there are 1900 miles of gas “mains” laid down in London and the suburbs; so that adopting the estimate of the Commissioners of Police, or 1760 miles of streets, within an area of about 90 square miles, we cannot go far wrong.

Now, as to the amount of traffic that takes place daily over this vast extent of paved road, it is almost impossible to predicate anything definitely. As yet there are only a few crude facts existing in connection with the subject. All we know is, that the London streets are daily traversed by 1500 omnibuses—such was the number of drivers licensed by the Metropolitan Commissioners in 1850—and about 3000 cabs—the number of drivers licensed in 1850 was 5000, but many “cabs” have a day and night driver as well, and the Return from the Stamp and Tax Office cited below, represents the number of licensed cabriolets, in 1849, at 2846: besides these public conveyances, there are the private carriages and carts, so that the metropolitan vehicles may be said to employ altogether upwards of 20,000 horses.

In the Morning Chronicle I said, when treating of the London omnibus-drivers and conductors:—“The average journey, as regards the distance travelled by each omnibus, is six miles, and that distance is, in some cases, travelled twelve times a day, or as it is called, ‘six there and six back.’ Some omnibuses perform the journey only ten times a day, and some, but a minority, a less number of times. Now, taking the average distance travelled by each omnibus at between 45 and 50 miles a day—and this, I am assured, on the best authority, is within the mark, while 60 miles a day might exceed it—and computing the omnibuses running daily at 1500, we find ‘a travel,’ as it was worded to me, of upwards of 70,000 miles daily, or a yearly ‘travel’ of more than 25,000,000 miles; an extent which is upwards of a thousand times more than the circumference of the earth; and that this estimate in no way exceeds the truth is proved by the sum annually paid to the Excise for ‘mileage,’ which amounts on an average to 9l. each ’bus’ per month, or collectively to 162,000l. per annum, and this, at 1½d. per mile (the rate of duty charged), gives 25,920,000 miles as the aggregate distance travelled by the entire number of omnibuses every year through the London streets.”

The distance travelled by the London cabs may be estimated as follows:—Each driver may be said to receive on an average 10s. a day all the year through. Now, the number of licences prove that there are 5000 cab-drivers in London, and as each of these must travel at the least ten miles in order to obtain the daily 10s., we may safely assert that the whole 5000 go over 50,000 miles of ground a day, or, in round numbers, 18,250,000 miles in the course of the year.

According to a return obtained by Mr. Charles Cochrane from the Stamp and Tax Office, Somerset House, there were in the metropolis, in 1849-50, the following number of horses:—

Private carriage, job, and cart horses (in London)3,683

Ditto (in Westminster)6,339

Cabriolets licensed 2846 (having two horses each)5,692

Omnibuses licensed 1350 (four horses each)5,500

Total number of horses in the metropolis21,214

I am assured, by persons well acquainted with the omnibus trade, that the number of omnibus horses here cited is far too low—as many proprietors employ ten horses to each “bus,” and none less than six. Hence we may fairly assume that there are at the least 25,000 horses at work every day in the streets of London. Besides the horses above mentioned, it is estimated that the number daily coming to the metropolis from the surrounding parts is 3000; and calculating that each of the 25,000, which may be said to be at work out of the entire number, travels eight miles a day, the aggregate length of ground gone over by the whole would amount to 200,000 miles per diem, or about 70,000,000 miles throughout the year. There are, as we have seen, upwards of 1750 miles of streets in London. It follows, therefore, that each piece of pavement would be traversed no less than 40,000 times per annum, or upwards of a hundred times a day, by some horse or vehicle.

As I said before, the facts that have been collected concerning the absolute traffic of the several parts of London are of the most meagre description. The only observations of any character that have been made upon the subject are—as far as my knowledge goes—those of M. D’Arcey, which are contained in a French report upon the roads of London, as compared with those of Paris.

This gentleman, speaking of the relative number of vehicles passing and repassing over certain parts of the two capitals, says:—“The Boulevards of Paris are the parts where the greatest traffic takes place. On the Boulevard des Capucins there pass, every 24 hours, 9070 horses drawing carriages; on the Boulevard des Italiens, 10,750; Boulevard Poissonière, 7720; Boulevard St. Denis, 9609; Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, 5856: general average of the above, 8600. Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, 4300; Avenue des Champs Elysées, 8959. At London, in Pall Mall, opposite Her Majesty’s Theatre, there pass at least 800 carriages every hour. On London-bridge the number of vehicles passing and repassing is not less than 13,000 every hour. On Westminster-bridge the annual traffic amounts to 8,000,000 horses at the least. By this it will be seen that the traffic in Paris does not amount to one-half of what it is in the streets of London.”

Of the Dust and Dirt of the Streets of London.

We have merely to reflect upon the vast amount of traffic just shown to be daily going on throughout London—to think of the 70,000,000 miles of journey through the metropolis annually performed by the entire vehicles (which is more than two-thirds the distance from the earth to the sun)—to bear in mind that each part of London is on the average gone over and over again 40,000 times in the course of the year, and some parts as many as 13,000 times in a day—and that every horse and vehicle by which the streets are traversed are furnished, the one with four iron-bound hoofs, and the other with iron-bound wheels—to have an imperfect idea of the enormous weights and friction continually operating upon the surface of the streets—as well as the amount of grinding and pulverising, and wear and tear, that must be perpetually taking place in the paving-stones and macadamized roads of London; and thus we may be able to form some mental estimate as to the quantity of dust and dirt annually produced by these means alone.

But the table in pp. 186-7, which has been collected at great trouble, will give us still more accurate notions on the subject. It is not given as perfect, but as being the best information, in the absence of positive returns, that was procurable even from the best informed.

Here, then, we have an aggregate total of dust collected from the principal parts of the metropolis amounting to no less than 141,466 loads. The value of this refuse is said to be as much as 21,221l. 8s., but of this and more I shall speak hereafter. At present I merely seek to give the reader a general notion upon the matter. I wish to show him, before treating of the labourers engaged in the scavenging of the London streets, the amount of work they have to do.

A TABLE SHOWING THE SEVERAL DIVISIONS OF THE METROPOLIS CLEANSED BY THE SCAVENGERS AND PARISH MEN, THE NAMES OF THE CONTRACTORS, THE NUMBER OF MEN AND CARTS EMPLOYED IN COLLECTING, THE QUANTITY OF DUST AND MUD COLLECTED DAILY IN THE STREETS IN DRY AND WET WEATHER, WITH THE ANNUAL VALUE OF THE WHOLE.

Divisions and Districts.Names of Contractors.Number of Men employed at scavenging.Number of Carts used daily in scavenging.Number of loads collected daily.Number of Cart-Loads annually collected by the Scavengers.Annual value of Dirt collected by Scavengers.

In dry weather.In wet weather.In dry weather.In wet weather.In dry weather.In wet weather.

KensingtonParish3512351252£18716s.0d.

ChelseaDitto3512461565234150

Ditto (Hans’ Town)Mr. C. Humphries3411351252187160

St. George’s, PimlicoMr. Redding2412571878281140

Ditto, Hanover SquareParish35111½2½62693180

St. Margaret’s, WestminsterDitto57238102817422110

St. John’s, dittoMr. Hearne57128102817422110

St. Martin’sMachine6944461565234150

Hungerford-marketMr. J. Gore22111362693180

St. James’s, WestminsterParish2412571878281140

PiccadillyParish and Machine2028228123130469100

Regent-street and Pall-mallDitto, ditto81222461565234150

St. Ann’s, SohoDitto3412461565234150

Woods and ForestsMachine2412571878281140

PaddingtonParish4612682191328130

Marylebone (Five Districts)Ditto2035341525626093900

Portland-marketMr. Tame351124939140170

HampsteadParish241124939140170

HighgateDitto241124939140170

St. Pancras, South-west DivisionMr. Stapleton2412461565234150

Somers-townMr. Starkey3512792504375120

Southampton EstateMr. C. Starkey4511351252187160

Bedford dittoMr. J. Gore22111362693180

Brewers’ dittoMr. C. Starkey22111362693180

Calthorpe dittoDitto22111362693180

Cromer dittoDitto22111362693180

Doughty dittoMr. Martin22111362693180

Foundling dittoDitto22111362693180

Harrison dittoDitto22111362693180

Skinners’ dittoMr. H. North22111362693180

Union dittoMr. J. Gore22111362693180

Islington DistrictParish6811351252187160

Battle-bridgeMr. Starkey4612571878281140

HackneyParish571124939140170

St. Giles-in-the-Fields and St. George, BloomsburyMr. Redding79236102504375120

St. Mary-le-StrandMr. J. Gore2512461565234150

SavoyDitto23111362693180

St. Clement DanesParish5733 waggons.261252187160

St. Paul’s, Covent GardenDitto3512 carts.351252187160

Covent Garden-marketMr. Stapleton57569123130469100

HolbornParish6923461565234150

St. Sepulchre’sMr. J. Gore341124939140170

Hatton-gardenMessrs. Pratt and Sewell22111362693180

St. James’s, ClerkenwellMr. Dodd57238102817422110

St. John’s, dittoMr. J. Gould5733682191328130

St. Luke’sMr. Dodd710468102817422110

Goswell-streetMr. Redding3412461565234150

Liberty of the RollsMessrs. Pratt and Sewell22111362693180

Blackfriars BridgeMr. Jenkins3511461565234150

City Division, Eastern, AMr. G. Sinnott1016461216438265760

Ditto, North Middle, BMr. T. Rooke913468123130469100

Ditto, Western, CMr. C. Redding1214461418500875140

Ditto, South Middle, DMr. J. Gould1012349113130469100

ShoreditchMr. Dodd69248123130469100

Norton FolgateMr. J. Gould3512461565234150

Finsbury Square DistrictDitto3412682191328130

St. BotolphMr. Westley2422461565234150

Spitalfields DistrictMr. Newman3612351252187160

Spitalfields-marketMr. Parsons5734461565234150

Bethnal-greenMr. E. Newman46348102817422110

WhitechapelMr. Parsons3523682191328130

Commercial-roadParish4623461565234150

Mile-endMr. Newman3512351252187160

Ditto, New-townMr. Parsons3611351252187160

St. John’s, WappingMr. Westley241224939140170

ShadwellDitto2412351252187160

St. George’s-in-the-EastDitto4623682191328130

StepneyMr. E. Newman4612461565234150

PoplarParish241124939140170

East BoroughMr. Redding4623351252187160

West dittoDitto342224939140170

Borough ClinkMr. W. Sinnott351224939140170

BermondseyParish46239153576563180

NewingtonDitto4612351252187160

LambethDitto1216238102817422110

Ditto (Christchurch)Ditto142023692191328130

WandsworthDitto24111362693180

Camberwell and WalworthDitto4612571878281140

RotherhitheDitto3512351252187160

GreenwichDitto3512461565234150

DeptfordDitto3412682191328130

WoolwichDitto3512351252187160

LewishamDitto24111362693180

Scavengers’ Total358531130183355½548½140,98321,14790

Average total444½ men.156½ carts.452 loads daily.140,983 loads yearly.£21,14790

Orderlies546 ditto.9 ditto.2,817 ditto.35226

Gross total990½ men.156½461 loads daily.143,800 loads yearly.£21,499116

Divisions and Districts.Names of Contractors.Number of Men employed at scavenging.Number of Carts used daily in scavenging.Number of loads collected daily.

In dry weather.In wet weather.In dry weather.In wet weather.In dry weather.In wet weather.

KensingtonParish351235

ChelseaDitto351246

Ditto (Hans’ Town)Mr. C. Humphries341135

St. George’s, PimlicoMr. Redding241257

Ditto, Hanover SquareParish35111½2½

St. Margaret’s, WestminsterDitto5723810

St. John’s, dittoMr. Hearne5712810

St. Martin’sMachine694446

Hungerford-marketMr. J. Gore221113

St. James’s, WestminsterParish241257

PiccadillyParish and Machine202822812

Regent-street and Pall-mallDitto, ditto8122246

St. Ann’s, SohoDitto341246

Woods and ForestsMachine241257

PaddingtonParish461268

Marylebone (Five Districts)Ditto2035341525

Portland-marketMr. Tame351124

HampsteadParish241124

HighgateDitto241124

St. Pancras, South-west DivisionMr. Stapleton241246

Somers-townMr. Starkey351279

Southampton EstateMr. C. Starkey451135

Bedford dittoMr. J. Gore221113

Brewers’ dittoMr. C. Starkey221113

Calthorpe dittoDitto221113

Cromer dittoDitto221113

Doughty dittoMr. Martin221113

Foundling dittoDitto221113

Harrison dittoDitto221113

Skinners’ dittoMr. H. North221113

Union dittoMr. J. Gore221113

Islington DistrictParish681135

Battle-bridgeMr. Starkey461257

HackneyParish571124

St. Giles-in-the-Fields and St. George, BloomsburyMr. Redding7923610

St. Mary-le-StrandMr. J. Gore251246

SavoyDitto231113

St. Clement DanesParish5733 waggons.26

St. Paul’s, Covent GardenDitto3512 carts.35

Covent Garden-marketMr. Stapleton5756912

HolbornParish692346

St. Sepulchre’sMr. J. Gore341124

Hatton-gardenMessrs. Pratt and Sewell221113

St. James’s, ClerkenwellMr. Dodd5723810

St. John’s, dittoMr. J. Gould573368

St. Luke’sMr. Dodd71046810

Goswell-streetMr. Redding341246

Liberty of the RollsMessrs. Pratt and Sewell221113

Blackfriars BridgeMr. Jenkins351146

City Division, Eastern, AMr. G. Sinnott1016461216

Ditto, North Middle, BMr. T. Rooke91346812

Ditto, Western, CMr. C. Redding1214461418

Ditto, South Middle, DMr. J. Gould101234911

ShoreditchMr. Dodd6924812

Norton FolgateMr. J. Gould351246

Finsbury Square DistrictDitto341268

St. BotolphMr. Westley242246

Spitalfields DistrictMr. Newman361235

Spitalfields-marketMr. Parsons573446

Bethnal-greenMr. E. Newman4634810

WhitechapelMr. Parsons352368

Commercial-roadParish462346

Mile-endMr. Newman351235

Ditto, New-townMr. Parsons361135

St. John’s, WappingMr. Westley241224

ShadwellDitto241235

St. George’s-in-the-EastDitto462368

StepneyMr. E. Newman461246

PoplarParish241124

East BoroughMr. Redding462335

West dittoDitto342224

Borough ClinkMr. W. Sinnott351224

BermondseyParish4623915

NewingtonDitto461235

LambethDitto121623810

Ditto (Christchurch)Ditto14202369

WandsworthDitto241113

Camberwell and WalworthDitto461257

RotherhitheDitto351235

GreenwichDitto351246

DeptfordDitto341268

WoolwichDitto351235

LewishamDitto241113

Scavengers’ Total358531130183355½548½

Average total444½ men.156½ carts.452 loads daily.

Orderlies546 ditto.9 ditto.

Gross total990½ men.156½461 loads daily.

Divisions and Districts.Number of Cart-Loads annually collected by the Scavengers.Annual value of Dirt collected by Scavengers.

Kensington1252£18716s.0d.

Chelsea1565234150

Ditto (Hans’ Town)1252187160

St. George’s, Pimlico1878281140

Ditto, Hanover Square62693180

St. Margaret’s, Westminster2817422110

St. John’s, ditto2817422110

St. Martin’s1565234150

Hungerford-market62693180

St. James’s, Westminster1878281140

Piccadilly3130469100

Regent-street and Pall-mall1565234150

St. Ann’s, Soho1565234150

Woods and Forests1878281140

Paddington2191328130

Marylebone (Five Districts)626093900

Portland-market939140170

Hampstead939140170

Highgate939140170

St. Pancras, South-west Division1565234150

Somers-town2504375120

Southampton Estate1252187160

Bedford ditto62693180

Brewers’ ditto62693180

Calthorpe ditto62693180

Cromer ditto62693180

Doughty ditto62693180

Foundling ditto62693180

Harrison ditto62693180

Skinners’ ditto62693180

Union ditto62693180

Islington District1252187160

Battle-bridge1878281140

Hackney939140170

St. Giles-in-the-Fields and St. George, Bloomsbury2504375120

St. Mary-le-Strand1565234150

Savoy62693180

St. Clement Danes1252187160

St. Paul’s, Covent Garden1252187160

Covent Garden-market3130469100

Holborn1565234150

St. Sepulchre’s939140170

Hatton-garden62693180

St. James’s, Clerkenwell2817422110

St. John’s, ditto2191328130

St. Luke’s2817422110

Goswell-street1565234150

Liberty of the Rolls62693180

Blackfriars Bridge1565234150

City Division, Eastern, A438265760

Ditto, North Middle, B3130469100

Ditto, Western, C500875140

Ditto, South Middle, D3130469100

Shoreditch3130469100

Norton Folgate1565234150

Finsbury Square District2191328130

St. Botolph1565234150

Spitalfields District1252187160

Spitalfields-market1565234150

Bethnal-green2817422110

Whitechapel2191328130

Commercial-road1565234150

Mile-end1252187160

Ditto, New-town1252187160

St. John’s, Wapping939140170

Shadwell1252187160

St. George’s-in-the-East2191328130

Stepney1565234150

Poplar939140170

East Borough1252187160

West ditto939140170

Borough Clink939140170

Bermondsey3576563180

Newington1252187160

Lambeth2817422110

Ditto (Christchurch)2191328130

Wandsworth62693180

Camberwell and Walworth1878281140

Rotherhithe1252187160

Greenwich1565234150

Deptford2191328130

Woolwich1252187160

Lewisham62693180

Scavengers’ Total140,98321,14790

Average total140,983 loads yearly.£21,14790

Orderlies2,817 ditto.35226

Gross total143,800 loads yearly.£21,499116

Of the Street-Dust of London, and the Loss and Injury occasioned by it.

The daily and nightly grinding of thousands of wheels, the iron friction of so many horses’ hoofs, the evacuations of horses and cattle, and the ceaseless motion of pedestrians, all decomposing the substance of our streets and roads, give rise to many distinct kinds of street-dirt. These are severally known as

(1) Dust.

(2) Horse-dung and cattle-manure.

(3) Mud, when mixed with water and with general refuse, such as the remains of fruit and other things thrown into the street and swept together.

(4) Surface-water when mixed with street-sewage.

These productions I shall treat severally, and first of the street-dust.

The “detritus” of the streets of London assumes many forms, and is known by many names, according as it is combined with more or less water.

1st. In a perfectly dry state, so that the particles no longer exist either in a state of cohesion or aggregation, but are minutely divided and distinct, it is known by the name of “dust.”

2nd. When in combination with a small quantity of water, so that it assumes the consistency of a pap, the particles being neither free to move nor yet able to resist pressure, the detritus is known by the name of “mac mud,” or simply “mud,” according as it proceeds from a macadamized or stone paved road.

3rd. When in combination with a greater quantity of water, so that it is rendered almost liquid, it is known as “slop-dirt.”

4th. When in combination with a still greater quantity of water, so that it is capable of running off into the sewers, it is known by the name of “street surface-water.”

The mud of the streets of London is then merely the dust or detritus of the granite of which they are composed, agglutinated either with rain or the water from the watering-carts. Granite consists of silex, felspar, and mica. Silex is sand, while felspar and mica are also silex in combination with alumina (clay), and either potash or magnesia. Hence it would appear to be owing to the affinity of the alumina or clay for moisture, as well as the property of silex to “gelatinize” with water under certain conditions, that the particles of dry dust derive their property of agglutinating, when wetted, and so forming what is termed “mud”—either “mac,” or simple mud, according, as I said before, to the nature of the paving on which it is formed.

By dust the street-cleansers mean the collection of every kind of refuse in the dust-bins; but I here speak, of course, of the fine particles of earthy matter produced by the attrition of our roads when in a dry state. Street-dust is, more properly speaking, mud deprived of its moisture by evaporation. Miss Landon (L. E. L.) used to describe the London dust as “mud in high spirits,” and perhaps no figure of speech could convey a better notion of its character.

In some parts of the suburbs on windy days London is a perfect dust-mill, and although the dust may be allayed by the agency of the water-carts (by which means it is again converted into “mac,” or mud), it is not often thoroughly allayed, and is a source of considerable loss, labour, and annoyance. Street-dust is not collected for any useful purpose, so that as there is no return to be balanced against its prejudicial effects it remains only to calculate the quantity of it annually produced, and thus to arrive at the extent of the mischief.

Street-dust is disintegrated granite, that is, pulverized quartz and felspar, felspar being principally composed of alumina or clay, and quartz silex or sand; it is the result of the attrition, or in a word it is the detritus, of the stones used in pavements and in macadamization; it is further composed of the pulverization of all horse and cattle-dung, and of the almost imperceptible, but still, I am assured, existent powder which arises from the friction of the wooden pavement even when kept moist. In the roads of the nearest suburbs, even around such places as the Regent’s-park, at many seasons this dust is produced largely, so that very often an open window for the enjoyment of fresh air is one for the intrusion of fresh dust. This may be less the case in the busier and more frequently-watered thoroughfares, but even there the annoyance is great.

I find in the “Reports” in which this subject is mentioned but little said concerning the influence of dust upon the public health. Dr. Arnott, however, is very explicit on the subject. “It is,” says he, “scarcely conceivable that the immense quantities of granite dust, pounded by one or two hundred thousand pairs of wheels (!) working on macadamized streets, should not greatly injure the public health. In houses bordering such streets or roads it is found that, notwithstanding the practice of watering, the furniture is often covered with dust, even more than once in the day, so that writing on it with the finger becomes legible, and the lungs and air tubes of the inhabitants, with a moist lining to detain the dust, are constantly pumping in the same atmosphere. The passengers by a stage-coach in dry weather, when the wind is moving with them so as to keep them enveloped in the cloud of dust raised by the horses’ feet and the wheels of the coach, have their clothes soon saturated to whiteness, and their lungs are charged in a corresponding degree. A gentleman who rode only 20 miles in this way had afterwards to cough and expectorate for ten days to clear his chest again.”

In order that the deleteriousness to health incident to the inhalation of these fine and offensive particles may be the better estimated, I may add, that in every 24 hours an adult breathes 36 hogsheads of air; and Mr. Erasmus Wilson, in his admirable work on the Skin, has the following passage concerning the extent of surface presented by the lungs:—

“The lungs receive the atmospheric air through the windpipe. At the root of the neck the windpipe, or trachea, divides into two branches, called bronchi, and each bronchus, upon entering its respective lung, divides into an infinity of small tubes; the latter terminate in small pouches, called air-cells, and a number of these little air-cells communicate together at the extremity of each small tube. The number of air-cells in the two lungs has been estimated at 1,744,000,000, and the extent of the skin which lines the cells and tubes together at 1500 square feet. This calculation of the number of air-cells, and the extent of the lining membrane, rests, I believe, on the authority of Dr. Addison of Malvern.”

What is the amount of atmospherical granite, dung, and refuse-dust received in a given period into the human lungs, has never, I am informed, been ascertained even by approximation; but according to the above facts it must be something fearful to contemplate.

After this brief recital of what is known concerning the sanitary part of the question, I proceed to consider the damage and loss occasioned by street-dust. In no one respect, perhaps, can this be ascertained with perfect precision, but still even a rough approximation to the extent of the evil is of value, as giving us more definite ideas on the subject.

It will be seen, on reference to the preceding table, that the quantity of street-refuse collected in dry weather throughout the metropolis is between 300 and 400 cart-loads daily, or upwards of 100,000 cart-loads, the greater proportion of which may be termed street-dust.

The damage occasioned by the street-dust arises from its penetrating, before removal, the atmosphere both without and within our houses, and consists in the soiling of wearing apparel, the injury of the stock-in-trade of shopkeepers, and of household furniture.

Washing is, of course, dependent upon the duration of time in which it is proper, in the estimation of the several classes of society, to retain wearing apparel upon the person, on the bed or the table, without what is termed a “change;” and this duration of time with thousands of both men and women is often determined by the presence or absence of dirt on the garment; and not arbitrarily, as among wealthier people, with whom a clean shirt every morning, and a clean table-cloth every one, two, three, or more days, as may happen, are regarded as things of course, no matter what may be the state of the displaced linen.

The Board of Health, in one of their Reports, speak very decisively and definitely on this subject. “Common observation of the rate at which the skin, linen, and clothes (not to speak of paper, books, prints, and furniture) become dirty in the metropolis,” say they, “as compared with the time that elapses before a proportionate amount of deterioration and uncleanliness is communicated in the rural districts, will warrant the estimate, that full one-half the expense of washing to maintain a passable degree of cleanliness, is rendered necessary by the excess of smoke generated in open fires, and the excess of dust arising from the imperfect scavenging of the roads and streets. Persons engaged in washing linen on a large scale, state that it is dirtied in the crowded parts of the metropolis in one-third the time in which the like degree of uncleanliness would be produced in a rural district; but all attest the fact, that linen is more rapidly destroyed by washing than by the wear on the person. The expense of the more rapid destruction of linen must be added to the extra expense of washing. These expenses and inconveniences, the greater portion of which are due to local maladministration, occasion an extra expenditure of upwards of two to three millions per annum—exclusive of the injury done to the general health and the medical and other expenses consequent thereon.”

Here, then, we find the evil effects of the imperfect scavenging of the metropolis estimated at between two and three millions sterling per annum, and this in the mere matter of extra washing and its necessary concomitant extra wear and tear of clothes.

As this estimate, however, appears to me to exaggerate the evil beyond all due bounds, I will proceed to adduce a few facts, bearing upon the point: and first as to the expense of washing.

In order to ascertain as accurately as possible, the actual washing expenses of labouring men and their families whose washing was done at home, Mr. John Bullar, the Honorary Secretary to the Association for the Promotion of Baths and Washhouses, tells us in a Report presented to Parliament, “that inquiries were made of several hundred families of labouring men, and it was found that, taking the wife’s labour as worth 5s. a week! the total cost of washing at home, for a man and wife and four children, averaged very closely on 2s. 6d. a week, = 5d. a head. The cost of coals, soda, soap, starch, blue, and sometimes water, was rather less than one-third of the amount. The time occupied was rarely less than two days, and more often extended into a third day, so that the value of the labour was rather more than two-thirds of the amount.

“The cost of washing to single men among the labouring classes, whose washing expenditure might be expected to be on a very low scale, such as hod-men and street-sweepers, was found to be 4½d. a head.

“The cost of washing to very small tradesmen could not be safely estimated at much more than 6d. a head a week.

“It may, perhaps,” continues the Report, “be safe to reckon the weekly washing expenses of the poorer half of the inhabitants of the metropolis at not exceeding 6d. a head; but the expenditure for washing rapidly increases as the inquiry ascends into what are called the ‘middle classes.’

“The washing expenses of families in which servants are employed may be considered as double that of the servants’, and, therefore, as ranging from 1s. 6d. to 5s. a week a head.

“There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining with any exactness the washing expenditure of private families, but the conclusion is that, taking the whole population, the washing bills of London are nearly 1s. a week a head, or 5,000,000l. a year.

“Of course,” adds Mr. Bullar, “I give this as but a rough estimate, and many exceptions may easily be taken to it; but I feel pretty confident that it is not very far from the truth.”

As I before stated, I am in no way disposed to go to the extent of the calculation here made. It appears to me that in parliamentary investigations by the agency of select committees, or by gentlemen appointed to report on any subject, there is an aptitude to deal with the whole body of the people as if they were earning the wages of well and regularly-employed labourers, or even mechanics. To suppose that the starving ballast-heaver, the victim of a vicious truck system, which condemns him to poverty and drunkenness, or the sweep, or the dustman, or the street-seller—all very numerous classes—expends 1s. a week in his washing, is far beyond the fact. Still less is expended in the washing of these people’s children. Even the well-conducted artizan, with two clean shirts a week (costing him 6d.), with the washing of stockings, &c. (costing 1d. or 2d.), does not expend 1s. a week; so that, though the washing bills of many ladies and of some gentlemen may average 10s. weekly, if we consider how few are rich and how many poor, the extra payment seems insufficient to make up the average of the weekly shilling for the washing of all classes.

A prosperous and respectable master greengrocer, who was what may be called “particular” in his dress, as he had been a gentleman’s servant, and was now in the habit of waiting upon the wealthy persons in his neighbourhood, told me that the following was the average of his washing bill. He was a bachelor; all his washing was put out, and he considered his expenditure far above the average of his class, as many used no night-shirt, but slept in the shirts they wore during the day, and paid only 3d., and even less, per shirt to their washer-woman, and perhaps, and more especially in winter, made one shirt last the week.

Two shirts (per week)7d.

Stockings1

Night-shirt (worn two weeks generally, average per week)0¾

Sheets, blankets, and other household linens or woollens2

Handkerchiefs0¼

11d.

My informant was satisfied that he had put his expenditure at the highest. I also ascertained that an industrious wife, who was able to attend to her household matters, could wash the clothes of a small tradesman’s family,—for a man, his wife, and four small children,—“well,” at the following rate:—

1 lb. soap4½d. or 5d.

Soda and starch0½

¼ cwt. coals (extra)3½

8½d.

or less than 1½d. per head.

In this calculation it will be seen the cheapest soap is reckoned, and that there is no allowance for the wife’s labour. When I pointed out the latter circumstance, my informant said: “I look on it that the washing labour is part of the wife’s keep, or what she gives in return for it; and that as she’d have to be kept if she didn’t do it, why there shouldn’t be no mention of it. If she was working for others it would be quite different, but washing is a family matter; that’s my way of looking at it. Coke, too, is often used instead of coals; besides, a bit of bacon, or potatoes, or the tea-kettle, will have to be boiled, and that’s managed along with the hot water for the suds, and would have to be done anyhow, especially in winter.”

One decent woman, who had five children, “all under eight,” told me she often sat up half, and sometimes the whole night to wash, when busy other ways. She was not in poverty, for she earned “a good bit” in going out to cook, and her husband was employed by a pork-butcher.

I may further add, that a great many single men wash their own clothes. Many of the street-sellers in particular do this; so do such of the poor as live in their own rooms, and occasionally the dwellers in the low lodging-houses. One street-seller of ham sandwiches, whose aprons, sleeves, and tray-cloth, were remarkably white, told me that he washed them himself, as well as his shirt, &c., and that it was the common practice with his class. This washing—his aprons, tray-cloths, shirts, and stockings included—cost him, every three weeks, 4¼d. or 5d. for 1 lb. of soap, which is less than 1½d. a week. Among such people it is considered that the washing of a shirt is, as they say, “a penn’orth of soap, and the stockings in,” meaning that a penny outlay is sufficient to wash for both.

But not only does Mr. Bullar’s estimate exceed the truth as regards the cost of washing among the poorer classes, but it also errs in the proportion they are said to bear to the other ranks of society. That gentleman speaks of “the poorer half of the inhabitants of the metropolis,” as if the rich and poor were equal in numbers! but with all deference, it will be found that the ratio between the well-to-do and the needy is as 1 to 2, that is to say, the property and income-tax returns teach us there are at least two persons with an income below 150l. per annum, to every one having an income above it. Hence, the population of London being, within a fraction, 2,400,000; the numbers of the metropolitan well-to-do and needy would be respectively 800,000 and 1,600,000, and, allowing the cost of the washing of the former to average 1s. per head (adults and children), and, the washing of the labouring classes to come to 2d. a head, young and old (the expense of the materials, when the work is done at home, average, it has been shown, about 1½d. for each member of the family), we shall then have the following statement:—

Annual cost of washing for 800,000 people, at 1s. per head per week£2,080,000

Annual cost of washing for 1,600,000 people, at 2d. per head per week693,333

Total cost of washing of metropolis£2,773,333

I am convinced, low as the estimate of 2d. a week may appear for all whose incomes are under 150l. a year, from many considerations, that the above computation is rather over than under the truth. As, for instance, Mr. Hawes has said concerning the consumption of soap in the metropolis,—“Careful inquiry has proved that the quantity used is much greater than that indicated by the Excise returns; but reducing the results obtained by inquiry in one uniform proportion, the quantity used by the labouring classes earning from 10s. to 30s. per week is 10 lbs. each per annum, including every member of the family. Dividing the population of the metropolis into three classes: (1) the wealthy; (2) the shopkeepers and tradesmen; (3) labourers and the poor, and allowing 15 lbs., 10 lbs., and 4 lbs. to each respectively, the consumption of the metropolis will be nearly 200 tons per week.” The cost of each ton of soap Mr. Hawes estimates at 45l.

Professor Clarke, however, computes the metropolitan consumption of soap at 250 tons per week, and the cost per ton at 50l.

According to the above estimates, the total quantity of soap used every year in the metropolis is 12,000 tons, and this, at 50l. per ton, comes to£600,000

Professor Clarke reckons the gross consumption of soda in the metropolis, at 250 tons per month, costing 10l. a ton; hence for the year the consumption will be 3000 tons, costing30,000

The cost of water, according to the same authority, is 3s. 4d. per head per annum, and this, for the whole metropolis, amounts to400,000

Estimating the cost of the coals used in heating the water to be equal to that of the soap, we have for the gross expense of fuel annually consumed in washing600,000

There are 21,000 laundresses in London, and, calculating that the wages of these average 10s. a week each all the year round, the gross sum paid to them, would be in round numbers550,000

Profit of employers, say550,000

Add for sundries, as starch, &c.50,000

Total cost of washing of metropolis£2,780,000

Hence it would appear, that viewed either by the individual expense of the great bulk of society, or else by the aggregate cost of the materials and labour used in cleansing the clothes of the people of London, the total sum annually expended in the washing of the metropolis may be estimated at the outside at two millions and three quarters sterling per annum, or about 1l. 3s. 4d. per head.

And yet, though the data for the calculation here given, as to the cost and quantity of the principal materials used in cleansing the clothes of London, are derived from the same Report as that in which the expense of the metropolitan washing is estimated at 5,000,000l. per annum, the Board of Health do not hesitate in that document to say that,—“Of the fairness of the estimate of the expense of washing to the higher and middle classes, and to the great bulk of the householders, and the better class of artizans, we entertain no doubt whatever. Whatsoever deductions, if any, may be made from the above estimate, it is, nevertheless, an under-estimate for maintaining, at the present expense of washing, a proper amount of cleanliness in linen.”

Proceeding, however, with the calculation as to the loss from the imperfect scavenging of the metropolis, we have the following results:—

LOSS FROM DUST AND DIRT IN THE STREETS OF THE METROPOLIS, OWING TO THE EXTRA WASHING ENTAILED THEREBY.

According to the Board of Health, taking the yearly amount of the washing of the metropolis at 5,000,000l., and assuming the washing to be doubled by street-dirt, the loss will be£2,500,000

Calculating the washing, however, for reasons above adduced, to be only 2,750,000l., and to be as much again as it might be under an improved system of scavenging, the loss will be1,375,000

Or calculating, as a minimum, that the remediable loss is less than one-half, the cost is£1,000,000

Hence it would appear that the loss from dust and dirt is really enormous.

In a work entitled “Sanatory Progress,” being the Fifth Report of the National Philanthropic Association, I find a calculation as to the losses sustained from dust and dirt upon our clothes. Owing to the increased wear from daily brushing to remove the dust, and occasional scraping to remove the mud, the loss is estimated at from 3l. to 7l. per annum for each well-dressed man and woman, and 1l. for inferiorly-dressed persons, including their Sunday and holiday clothing.

I inquired of a West-end tailor, who previously to his establishment in business had himself been an operative, and had had experience both in town and country as to the wear of clothes, and I learned from him the following particulars.

With regard to the clothes of the wealthy classes, of those who could always command a carriage in bad weather, there are no means of judging as to the loss caused by bad scavengery.

My informant, however, obliged me with the following calculations, the results of his experience. His trade is what I may describe as a medium business, between the low slop and the high fashionable trades. The garments of which he spoke were those worn by clerks, shopmen, students, tradesmen, town-travellers, and others not engaged in menial or handicraft labour.

Altogether, and after consulting his books relative to town and country customers, my informant thought it might be easy to substantiate the following estimate as regards the duration and cost of clothes in town and country among the classes I have specified.

TABLE SHOWING THE COMPARATIVE COST OF CLOTHES WORN IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Garments.Original cost.Town.Country.Difference of cost.

Duration.Annual cost.Duration.Annual cost.

£s.d. Years. £s.d. Years. £s.d. £s.d.

Coat 2100 2 150 3 0168 084

Waistcoat 0150 2½ 060 3 050 010

Trowsers 150 1¼ 100 2 0126 076

Total Suit 4100 2110 1142 01610

Here, then, it appears that the annual outlay for clothes in town, by the classes I have specified, is about 2l. 11s.; while the annual outlay in the country for the same garments is 1l. 14s. 2d.; the difference of expense being 16s. 10d. per annum. I consulted another tailor on the subject, and his estimate was a trifle above that of my informant.

I should remark that the proportion thus adduced holds, whatever be the number of garments worn in the year, or in a series of years, for the calculation was made not as to individual garments, but as to the general wear, evinced by the average outlay, as shown in the tradesman’s books, of the same class of persons in town and country.

In the calculation given in the publication of the National Philanthropic Association, the loss on a well-dressed Londoner’s clothing, arising from excessive dust and dirt, is estimated at from 3l. to 7l. per annum. By the above table it will be seen that the clothes which cost 1l. 14s. 2d. per annum in the cleanliness of a country abode, cost 2l. 11s., or, within a fraction, half as much again, in the uncleanliness of a London atmosphere and roads. If, therefore, any London inhabitant, of the classes I have specified, expend four times 2l. 11s. in his clothes yearly, as many do, or 10l. 4s., he loses 3l. 5s. 4d., or 5s. 4d. more than the minimum mentioned in the Report alluded to.

Now estimating 2l. 10s. as the yearly tailor’s bill among the well-to-do (boys and men), and calculating that one-sixth of the metropolitan population (that is, half of the one-third who may be said to belong to the class having incomes above 150l. a year) spend this sum yearly in clothes, we have the following statement:—

Aggregate Loss upon Clothes worn in London.

£s.d.

400,000 persons living in London expend in clothing (at 2l. 10s. per annum)1,000,00000

400,000 persons living in better atmospheres in rural parts, and with the same stock of clothes, expend one-third less, or666,666134

Difference333,33368

It would be pushing the inquiry to exceeding minuteness were I to enter into calculations as to the comparative expense of boots, hats, and ladies’ dresses worn in town and country; suffice it, that competent persons in each of the vestiary trades have been seen, and averages drawn for the accounts of their town and country customers.

All things, then, being duly considered, the following conclusion would seem to be warranted by the facts:—

Annual cost of clothes to 800,000 of the metropolitan population (those belonging to the class who have incomes above 150l. per annum) at 4l. per year each£3,200,000

Annual cost of clothes to 1,600,000 of the metropolitan population (those belonging to the class who have incomes below 150l. per annum), at 1l. per year each1,600,000

£4,800,000

Annual cost of the same clothes if worn in the country3,600,000

Extra expense annually entailed by dust and dirt of metropolis£1,200,000

In the above estimate I have included the cost of wear and tear of linen from extra washing when worn in London, and this has been stated on the authority of the Board of Health to be double that of linen worn in the country.

In connection with this subject I may cite the following curious calculation, taken from a Parliamentary Report, as to the cost of a working man’s new shirt, comprising four yards of strong calico.

Material.—Cotton at 6d. per lb.d.

1¼ lb., with loss thereupon8·25

Manufacture,—d.

Spinning2·25

Weaving3·00

Profit·25

——5·50

13·75

Bleaching about1·25

15·00

Grey (calico) 13·75d.+9d. (making)=1s. 10¾d.

Bleached 15d.+9d. „ =2s.

As regards the loss and damage occasioned by the injury to household furniture and decorations, and to stocks-in-trade, which is another important consideration connected with this subject, I find the following statement in the Report of the Philanthropic Institution:—“The loss by goods and furniture is incalculable: shopkeepers lose from 10l. to 150l. a-year by the spoiling of their goods for sale; dealers in provisions especially, who cannot expose them without being deteriorated in value, from the dust that is incessantly settling upon them. Nor is it much better with clothiers of all kinds:—Mr. Holmes, shawl merchant, in Regent-street, has stated that his losses from road-dust alone exceed 150l. per annum.”... “In a communication with Mr. Mivart, respecting the expenses of mud and road-dust to him, that gentleman stated that the rent of the four houses of which his hotel is composed, was 896l.; and that he could not (considering the cost of cleaning and servants) estimate the expense of repairing the damage done by the dirt and dust, carried and blown into these houses, at a less annual sum than that of his rent!”

An upholsterer obliged me with the following calculations, but so many were the materials, and so different the rates of wear or the liability to injury in different materials in his trade, that he could only calculate generally.

The same quality, colour, and pattern of curtains, silk damasks, which he had furnished to a house in town, and to a country house belonging to the same gentleman, looked far fresher and better after five years’ wear in the country than after three in town. Both windows had a southern aspect, but the occupant would have his windows partially open unless the weather was cold, foggy, or rainy. It was the same, or nearly the same, he thought, with the carpets on the two places, for London dust was highly injurious to all the better qualities of carpets. He was satisfied, also, it was the same generally in upholstery work subjected to town dust.

I inquired at several West-end and city shops, and of different descriptions of tradesmen, of the injury done to their shop and shop-window goods by the dust, but I found none who had made any calculations on the subject. All, however, agreed that the dust was an excessive annoyance, and entailed great expense; a ladies’ shoemaker and a bookseller expressed this particularly—on the necessity of making the window a sort of small glass-house to exclude the dust, which, after all, was not sufficiently excluded. All thought, or with but one hesitating exception, that the estimation as to the loss sustained by the Messrs. Holmes, considering the extent of their premises, and the richness of the goods displayed in the windows, &c., was not in excess.

I can, then, but indicate the injury to household furniture and stock-in-trade as a corroboration of all that has been advanced touching the damaging effects of road dirt.

Of the Horse-Dung of the Streets of London.

“Familiarity with streets of crowded traffic deadens the senses to the perception of their actual condition. Strangers coming from the country frequently describe the streets of London as smelling of dung like a stable-yard.”

Such is one of the statements in a Report submitted to Parliament, and there is no reason to doubt the fact. Every English visitor to a French city, for instance, must have detected street-odours of which the inhabitants were utterly unconscious. In a work which between 20 and 30 years ago was deservedly popular, Mathews’s “Diary of an Invalid,” it is mentioned that an English lady complaining of the villanous rankness of the air in the first French town she entered—Calais, if I remember rightly—received the comfortable assurance, “It is the smell of the Continent, ma’am.” Even in Cologne itself, the “most stinking city of Europe,” as it has been termed, the citizens are insensible to the foul airs of their streets, and yet possess great skill in manufacturing perfumed and distilled waters for the toilet, pluming themselves on the delicacy and discrimination of their nasal organs. What we perceive in other cities, as strangers, those who visit London detect in our streets—that they smell of dung like stable-yards. It is idle for London denizens, because they are unconscious of the fact, to deny the existence of any such effluvia. I have met with nightmen who have told me that there was “nothing particular” in the smell of the cesspools they were emptying; they “hardly perceived it.” One man said, “Why, it’s like the sort of stuff I’ve smelt in them ladies’ smelling-bottles.” An eminent tallow-melter said, in the course of his evidence before Parliament during a sanitary inquiry, that the smell from the tallow-melting on his premises was not only healthful and reviving—for invalids came to inhale it—but agreeable. I mention these facts to meet the scepticism which the official assertion as to the stable-like odour of the streets may, perhaps, provoke. When, however, I state the quantity of horse-dung and “cattle-droppings” voided in the streets, all incredulity, I doubt not, will be removed.

“It has been ascertained,” says the Report of the National Philanthropic Association, “that four-fifths of the street-dirt consist of horse and cattle-droppings.”

Let us, therefore, endeavour to arrive at definite notions as to the absolute quantity of this element of street-dirt.

And, first, as to the number of cattle and horses traversing the streets of London.

In the course of an inquiry in November, 1850, into Smithfield-market, I adduced the following results as to the number of cattle entering the metropolis, deriving the information from the experience of Mr. Deputy Hicks, confirmed by returns to Parliament, by the amount of tolls, and further ratified by the opinion of some of the most experienced “live salesmen” and “dead salesmen” (sellers on commission of live and dead cattle), whose assistance I had the pleasure of obtaining.

The return is of the stock annually sold in Smithfield-market, and includes not only English but foreign beasts, sheep, and calves; the latter averaging weekly in 1848 (the latest return then published), beasts, 590; sheep, 2478; and calves, 248.

224,000horned cattle.

1,550,000sheep.

27,300calves.

40,000pigs.

Total1,841,300.

I may remark that this is not a criterion of the consumption of animal food in the metropolis, for there are, besides the above, the daily supplies from the country to the “dead salesmen.” The preceding return, however, is sufficient for my present purpose, which is to show the quantity of cattle manure “dropped” in London.

The number of cattle entering the metropolis, then, are 1,841,300 per annum.

The number of horses daily traversing the metropolis has been already set forth. By a return obtained by Mr. Charles Cochrane from the Stamp and Tax Office, we have seen that there are altogether

In London and Westminster, of private carriage, job, and cart horses10,022

Cab horses5,692

Omnibus horses5,500

Horses daily coming to metropolis3,000

Total number of horses daily in London24,214

The total here given includes the returns of horses which were either taxed or the property of those who employ them in hackney-carriages in the metropolis. But the whole of these 24,214 horses are not at work in the streets every day. Perhaps it might be an approximation to the truth, if we reckoned five-sixths of the horses as being worked regularly in the public thoroughfares; so that we arrive at the conclusion that 20,000 horses are daily worked in the metropolis; and hence we have an aggregate of 7,300,000 horses traversing the streets of London in the twelvemonth. The beasts, sheep, calves, and pigs driven and conveyed to and from Smithfield are, we have seen, 1,841,300 in number. These, added together, make up a total of 9,141,300 animals appearing annually in the London thoroughfares. The circumstance of Smithfield cattle-market being held but twice a week in no way detracts from the amount here given; for as the gross number of individual cattle coming to that market in the course of the year is given, each animal is estimated as appearing only once in the metropolis.

The next point for consideration is—what is the quantity of dung dropped by each of the above animals while in the public thoroughfares?

Concerning the quantity of excretions passed by a horse in the course of 24 hours there have been some valuable experiments made by philosophers whose names alone are a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of their researches.

The following Table from Boussingault’s experiments is copied from the “Annales de Chimie et de Physique,” t. lxxi.

FOOD CONSUMED BY AND EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.

Food.Excretions.

Weight in a fresh state in grammes.Weight in a fresh state in pounds.Weight in a fresh state in grammes.Weight in a fresh state in pounds.

Hay7,50020lbs.0oz.Excrements14,25038lbs.2oz.

Oats2,27061Urine1,33037

9,770261

Water16,0004210

Total25,7706811Total15,580419

Here it will be seen that the quantity of solid food given to the horse in the course of the 24 hours amounted only to 26 lbs.; whereas it is stated in the Report of the National Philanthropic Association, on the authority of the veterinary surgeon to the Life Guards, that the regulation horse rations in all cavalry regiments is 30 lbs. of solid food; viz., 10 lbs. of oats, 12 lbs. of hay, together with 8 lbs. of straw, for the horse to lie upon and munch at his leisure. “This quantity of solid food, with five gallons of water, is considered sufficient,” we are told, “for all regimental horses, who have but little work to perform, in comparison with the draught horses of the metropolis, many of which consume daily 35 lbs. and upwards of solid food, with at least six gallons of water.

“At a conference held with the secretary and professors of the Veterinary College in College-street, Camden-town,” continues the Report, “those gentlemen kindly undertook to institute a series of experiments in this department of equine physiology; the subject being one which interested themselves, professionally, as well as the council of the National Philanthropic Association. The experiments were carefully conducted under the superintendence of Professor Varnell. The food, drink, and voidances of several horses, kept in stable all day long, were separately weighed and measured; and the following were the results with an animal of medium size and sound health:—

“‘Royal Veterinary College, Sept. 29, 1849.

“‘Brown horse of middle size ate in 24 hours, of hay, 16lbs.; oats, 10lbs.; chaff, 4 lbs.; in all30 lbs.

Drank of water, in 24 hours, 6 gallons, or48 lbs.

Total78 lbs.

Voided in the form of fæces49 lbs.

Allowance for nutrition, supply of waste in system, perspiration, and urine29 lbs.

(Signed) “‘George Varnell, “‘Demonstrator of Anatomy.’”

Here we find the excretions to be 11 lbs. more than those of the French horse experimented upon by M. Boussingault; but then the solid food given to the English horse was 4 lbs. more, and the liquid upwards of 7 lbs. extra.

We may then, perhaps, assume, without fear of erring, that the excrements voided by horses in the course of 24 hours, weigh, at the least, 45 lbs.

Hence the gross quantity of dung produced by the 7,300,000 horses which traverse the London streets in the course of the twelvemonth will be 7,300,000 × 45, or 328,500,000 lbs., which is upwards of 146,651 tons. But these horses cannot be said to be at work above six hours each day; we must, therefore, divide the above quantity by four, and thus we find that there are 36,662 tons of horse-dung annually dropped in the streets of London.

I am informed, on good authority, that the evacuations of an ox, in 24 hours, will, on the average, exceed those of a horse in weight by about a fifteenth, while, if the ox be disturbed by being driven, the excretions will exceed the horse’s by about a twelfth. As the oxen are not driven in the streets, or detained in the market for so long a period as horses are out at work, it may be fair to compute that their droppings are about the same, individually, as those of the horses.

Hence, as there are 224,000 horned cattle yearly brought to London, we have 224,000 × 45 lbs. = 10,080,000 lbs., or 4500 tons, for the gross quantity of ordure dropped by this number of animals in the course of 24 hours, so that, dividing by 4, as before, we find that there are 1125 tons of ordure annually dropped by the “horned cattle” in the streets of London.

Concerning the sheep, I am told that it may be computed that the ordure of five sheep is about equal in weight to that of two oxen. As regards the other animals it may be said that their “droppings” are insignificant, the pigs and calves being very generally carted to and from the market, as, indeed, are some of the fatter and more valuable sheep and lambs. All these facts being taken into consideration, I am told, by a regular frequenter of Smithfield market, that it will be best to calculate the droppings of each of the 1,617,300 sheep, calves, and pigs yearly coming to the metropolis at about one-fourth of those of the horned cattle; so that multiplying 1,617,300 by 10, instead of 45, we have 16,173,000 lbs., or 7220 tons, for the weight of ordure deposited by the entire number of sheep, calves, and pigs annually brought to the metropolis, and then dividing this by 4, as usual, we find that the droppings of the calves, sheep, and pigs in the streets of London amount to 1805 tons per annum.

Now putting together all the preceding items we obtain the following results:—

Gross Weight of the Horse-Dung and Cattle-Droppings annually deposited in the Streets of London:—

Tons.

Horse-dung36,662

Droppings of horned cattle1,125

Droppings of sheep, calves, and pigs1,805

39,592

Hence we perceive that the gross weight of animal excretions dropped in the public thoroughfares of the metropolis is about 40,000 tons per annum, or, in round numbers, 770 tons every week-day—say 100 tons a day.

This, I am well aware, is a low estimate, but it appears to me that the facts will not warrant any other conclusion. And yet the Board of Health, who seem to delight in “large” estimates, represent the amount of animal manure deposited in the streets of London at no less than 200,000 tons per annum.

“Between the Quadrant in Regent-street and Oxford-street,” says the first Report on the Supply of Water to the Metropolis, “a distance of a third of a mile, three loads, on the average, of dirt, almost all horse-dung, are removed daily. On an estimate made from the working of the street-sweeping machine, in one quarter of the City of London, which includes lines of considerable traffic, the quantity of dung dropped must be upwards of 60 tons, or about 20,000 tons per annum, and this, on a City district, which comprises about one-twentieth only of the covered area of the metropolis, though within that area there is the greatest proportionate amount of traffic. Though the data are extremely imperfect, it is considered that the horse-dung which falls in the streets of the whole metropolis cannot be less than 200,000 tons a year.”

Hence, although the data are imperfect, the Board of Health do not hesitate to conclude that the gross quantity of horse-dung dropped throughout every part of London—back streets and all—is equal to one-half of that let fall in the greatest London thoroughfares. According to this estimate, all and every of the 24,000 London horses must void, in the course of the six hours that they are at work in the streets, not less than 51 lbs. of excrement, which is at the rate of very nearly 2 cwt. in the course of the day, or voiding only 49 lbs. in the twenty-four hours, they must remain out altogether, and never return to the stable for rest!!!

Mr. Cochrane is far less hazardous than the Board of Health, and appears to me to arrive at his result in a more scientific and conclusive manner. He goes first to the Stamp Office to ascertain the number of horses in the metropolis, and then requests the professors of the Veterinary College to estimate the average quantity of excretions produced by a horse in the course of 24 hours. All this accords with the soundest principles of inquiry, and stands out in startling contrast with the unphilosophical plan pursued by the Board of Health, who obtain the result of the most crowded thoroughfare, and then halving this, frame an exaggerated estimate for the whole of the metropolis.

But Mr. Cochrane himself appears to me to exceed that just caution which is so necessary in all statistical calculations. Having ascertained that a horse voids 49 lbs. of dung in the course of 24 hours, he makes the whole of the 24,214 horses in the metropolis drop 30 lbs. daily in the streets, so that, according to his estimate, not only must every horse in London be out every day, but he must be at work in the public thoroughfares for very nearly 15 hours out of the 24!

The following is the estimate made by Mr. Cochrane:—

Daily weight of manure deposited in the streets by 24,214 horses × 30 lbs. = 726,420 lbs., or 324 tons, 5 cwt., 100 lbs.

Weekly weight, 2270 tons, 1 cwt., 28 lbs.

Annual weight, 118,043 tons, 5 cwt.

Tons or cart-loads deposited annually, valued at 6s. × 118,043 = 35,412l. 19s. 6d.

It has, then, been here shown that, assuming the number of horses worked daily in the streets of London to be 20,000, and each to be out six hours per diem, which, it appears to me, is all that can be fairly reckoned, the quantity of horse-dung dropped weekly is about 700 tons, so that, including the horses of the cavalry regiments in London, which of course are not comprised in the Stamp-Office returns, as well as the animals taken to Smithfield, we may, perhaps, assert that the annual ordure let fall in the London streets amounts, at the outside, to somewhere about 1000 tons weekly, or 52,000 tons per annum.

The next question becomes—what is done with this vast amount of filth?

The Board of Health is a much better guide upon this point than upon the matter of quantity: “Much of the horse-dung dropped in the London streets, under ordinary circumstances,” we are told, “dries and is pulverized, and with the common soil is carried into houses as dust, and dirties clothes and furniture. The odour arising from the surface evaporation of the streets when they are wet is chiefly from horse-dung. Susceptible persons often feel this evaporation, after partial wetting, to be highly oppressive. The surface-water discharged into sewers from the streets and roofs of houses is found to contain as much filth as the soil-water from the house-drains.”

Here, then, we perceive that the whole of the animal manure let fall in the streets is worse than wasted, and yet we are assured that it is an article, which, if properly collected, is of considerable value. “It is,” says the Report of the National Philanthropic Association, “an article of Agricultural and Horticultural commerce which has ever maintained a high value with the farmers and market-gardeners, wherever conveniently obtainable. When these cattle-droppings can be collected unmixed, in dry weather, they bear an acknowledged value by the grazier and root-grower;—there being no other kind of manure which fertilizes the land so bounteously. Mr. Marnock, Curator of the Royal Botanical Society, has valued them at from 5s. to 10s. per load; according to the season of the year. The United Paving Board of St. Giles and St. George, since the introduction of the Street Orderly System into their parishes, has wisely had it collected in a state separate from all admixture, and sold it at highly remunerative prices, rendering it the means of considerably lessening the expense of cleansing the streets.”

Now, assuming the value of the street-dropped manure to be 6s. per ton when collected free from dirt, we have the following statement as to the value of the horse and cattle-voidances let fall in the streets of London:—

52,000 tons of cattle-droppings, at 6s. per ton£15,60000

Mr. Cochrane, who considers the quantity of animal-droppings to be much greater, attaches of course a greater value to the aggregate quantity. His computation is as follows:—

118,043 tons of cattle-droppings, at 6s. per ton£35,412196

It seems to me that the calculations of the quantity of horse and cattle-dung in the streets, are based on such well-authenticated and scientific foundations, that their accuracy can hardly be disputed, unless it be that a higher average might fairly be shown.

Whatever estimate be adopted, the worth of street-dropped animal manure, if properly secured and made properly disposable, is great and indisputable; most assuredly between 10,000l. and 20,000l. in value.

Of Street “Mac” and other Mud.

First of that kind of mud known by the name of “mac.”

The scavengers call mud all that is swept from the granite or wood pavements, in contradistinction to “mac,” which is both scraped and swept on the macadamized roads. The mud is usually carted apart from the “mac,” but some contractors cause their men to shovel every kind of dirt they meet with into the same cart.

The introduction of Mac Adam’s system of road-making into the streets of London called into existence a new element in what is accounted street refuse. Until of late years little attention was paid to “Mac,” for it was considered in no way distinct from other kinds of street-dirt, nor as being likely to possess properties which might adapt it for any other use than that of a component part of agricultural manure.

“Mac” is found principally on the roads from which it derives its name, and is, indeed, the grinding and pounding of the imbedded pieces of granite, which are the staple of those roads. It is, perhaps, the most adhesive street-dirt known, as respects the London specimen of it; for the exceeding traffic works and kneads it into a paste which it is difficult to remove from the texture of any garment splashed or soiled with it.

“Mac” is carted away by the scavengers in great quantities, being shovelled, in a state of more or less fluidity or solidity, according to the weather, from the road-side into their carts. Quantities are also swept with the rain into the drains of the streets, and not unfrequently quantities are found deposited in the sewers.

The following passage from “Sanatory Progress,” a work before alluded to, cites the opinion of Lord Congleton as to the necessity of continually removing the mud from roads. I may add that Lord Congleton’s work on road-making is of high authority, and has frequently been appealed to in parliamentary discussions, inquiries, and reports on the subject.

“The late Lord Congleton (Sir Henry Parnell) stated before a Committee of the House of Commons, in June, 1838, ‘a road should be cleansed from time to time, so as never to have half an inch of mud upon it; and this is particularly necessary to be attended to where the materials are weak; for, if the surface be not kept clean, so as to admit of its becoming dry in the intervals between showers of rain, it will be rapidly worn away.’ How truly,” adds the Report, “is his Lordship’s opinion verified every day on the macadamized roads in and around London! * * * * * * The horse-manure and other filth are there allowed to accumulate, and to be carried about by the horses and carriage-wheels; the road is formed into cavities and mud-hollows, which, being wetted by the rain and the constantly plying watering-carts, retain the same. Thus, not only are vast quantities of offensive mud formed, but puddles and pools of water also; which water, not being allowed to run off to the side gutter, by declivity, owing to the mud embankments which surround it, naturally percolates through the surface of the road, dissolving and loosening the soft earthy matrix by which the broken granite is surrounded and fixed.”

The quantity of “mac” produced is the next consideration, and in endeavouring to ascertain this there are no specific data, though there are what, under other circumstances, might be called circumstantial or inferential evidence.

I have shown both the length of the streets and roads and the proportion which might be pronounced macadamized ways in the Metropolis Proper. But as in the macadamized proportion many thoroughfares cannot be strictly considered as yielding “mac,” I will assume that the roads and streets producing this kind of dirt, more or less fully, are 1200 miles in length.

On the busier macadamized roads in the vicinity of what may be called the interior of London, it is common, I was told by experienced men, in average weather, to collect daily two cart-loads of what is called mac, from every mile of road. The mass of such road-produce, however, is mixed, though the “mac” unquestionably predominates. It was described to me as mac, general dirt, and droppings, more than the half being “mac.” In wet weather there is at least twenty times more “mac” than dung scavenged; but in dry weather the dung and other street-refuse constitute, perhaps, somewhat less than three-fourths of each cart-load. The “mac” in dry weather is derived chiefly from the fluid from the watering carts mixing with the dust, and so forming a paste capable of being removed by the scraper of the scavenger.

It may be fair to assume that every mile of the roads in question, some of them being of considerable width, yields at least one cart-load of “mac,” as a daily average, Sunday of course excepted. An intelligent man, who had the management of the “mac” and other street collections in a contractor’s wharf, told me that in a load of “mac” carted from the road to any place of deposit, there was (I now use his own words) “a good deal of water; for there’s great difference,” he added, “in the stiffness of the “mac” on different roads, that seem very much the same to look at. But that don’t signify a halfpenny-piece,” he said, “for if the ‘mac’ is wanted for any purpose, and let be for a little time, you see, sir, the water will dry up, and leave the proper stuff. I haven’t any doubt whatever that two loads a mile are collected in the way you’ve been told, and that a load and a quarter of the two is ‘mac,’ though after the water is dried up out of it there mightn’t be much more than a load. So if you want to calculate what the quantity of ‘mac’ is by itself, I think you had best say one load a mile.”

But it is only in the more frequented approaches to the City or the West-end, such as the Knightsbridge-road, the New-road, the Old Kent-road, and thoroughfares of similar character as regards the extent of traffic, that two loads of refuse are daily collected. On the more distant roads, beyond the bounds traversed by the omnibuses for instance, or beyond the roads resorted to by the market gardeners on their way to the metropolitan “green” markets, the supply of street-refuse is hardly a quarter as great; one man thought it was a third, and another only a sixth of a load a day in quiet places.

Calculating then, in order to be within the mark, that the macadamized roads afford daily two loads of dirt per mile, and reckoning the great macadamized streets at 100 miles in length, we have the following results:—

Quantity of Street-Refuse collected from the more frequented macadamized Thoroughfares.

Loads.

100 miles,2 loads per day200

„Weekly amount1,200

„Yearly amount62,400

Proportion of “Mac” in the above.

100 miles,1 load per day100

„Weekly600

„Yearly31,200

To this amount must be added the quantity supplied by the more distant and less frequented roads situate within the precincts of the Metropolis Proper. These I will estimate at one-eighth less than that of the roads of greater traffic. Some of the more quiet thoroughfares, I should add, are not scavenged more than once a week, and some less frequently; but on some there is considerable traffic.

Quantity of Street-Refuse collected from the less frequented macadamized Thoroughfares.

Loads.

1100 miles,¼ load per day275

„Weekly1,650

„Yearly85,800

The proportion of mac to the gross dirt collected is greater in the more distant roads than what I have already described, but to be safe I will adopt the same ratio.

Proportion of “Mac.”

Loads.

1100 miles of road,⅛ load per day137

„Weekly825

„Yearly42,900

Yearly Total of the Gross Quantity of Street-Refuse, with the Proportionate Quantity of “Mac” collected from the macadamized Thoroughfares of the Metropolis.

Street Refuse.“Mac.”

Cart-loads.Loads.

100 miles of macadamized roads62,40031,200

1100 miles ditto ditto85,80042,900

148,20074,100

Thus upwards of 74,000 cart-loads of “mac” are, at a low computation, annually scraped and swept from the metropolitan thoroughfares.

So far as to the quantity of “mac” collected, and now as to its uses.

“‘Mac,’ or Macadam,” says one of Mr. Cochrane’s Reports, “is a grand prize to the scavenging contractor, who finds ready vend and a high price for it among the builders and brick-makers. Those who paid for the road—and their surveyors, possibly—know nothing of its value, or of their own loss by its removal from the road; they consider it in the light of dirt—offensive dirt—and are glad to pay the scavenger for carrying it away! When the broom comes, the scavenger’s men take care to go deep enough; and many of them are, moreover, instructed to keep the ‘mac’ as free from admixture with foreign substances as possible; for, though cattle-dung be valuable enough in itself, the ‘mac’ loses its value to the builder and brickmaker by being mixed with it. Indeed, both are valuable for their respective uses if kept separate, not otherwise.”

On my first making inquiries as to the uses and value of “mac,” I was frequently told that it was utterly valueless, and that great trouble and expense were incurred in merely getting rid of it. That this is the case with many contractors is, doubtlessly, the fact; for now, unless the “mac,” or, rather, the general road-dirt, be ordered, or a market for it be assured, it must be got rid of without a remuneration. Even when the contractor can shoot the “mac” in his own yard, and keep it there for a customer, there is the cost of re-loading and re-carting; a cost which a customer requiring to use it at any distance may not choose to incur. Great quantities of “mac,” therefore, are wasted; and more would be wasted, were there places to waste it in.

Let me, therefore, before speaking of the uses and sale of it, point out some of the reasons for this wasting of the “mac” with other street-dirt. In the first place, the weight of a cart-load of street-refuse of any kind is usually estimated at a ton; but I am assured that the weight of a cart-load of “stiff mac” is a ton and a quarter at the least; and this weight becomes so trying to a scavenger’s horse, as the day’s work advances, that the contractor, to spare the animal, is often glad to get rid of the “mac” in any manner and without any remuneration. Thousands of loads of “mac,” or rather of mixed street-dirt, have for this, and other reasons, been thrown away; and no small quantity has been thrown down the gulley-holes, to find its way into that main metropolitan sewer, the Thames. Of this matter, however, I shall have to speak hereafter.

There is no doubt that it is common for contractors to represent the “mac” they collect as being utterly valueless, and indeed an incumbrance. The “mixed mac,” as I have said, may be so. Some contractors urge, especially in their bargains with the parish board, that all kinds of street dirt are not only worthless, but expensive to be got rid of. Five or six years ago, this was urged very strenuously, for then there was what was accounted a combination among the contractors. The south-west district of St. Pancras, until within the last six years, received from the contractor for the public scavengery, 100l. for the year’s aggregation of street and house dirt. Since then, however, they have had to pay him 500l. for removing it.

Notwithstanding the reluctance of some of the contractors to give information on this, or indeed any subject connected with their trade, I have ascertained from indubitable authority, that “mac” is disposed of in the following manner. Some, but this is mostly the mixed kind, is got rid of in any manner; it has even been diluted with water so as to be driven down the drains. Some is mixed with the general street ordure—about a quarter of “mac,” I was told, to three-quarters of dung and street mud—and shipped off in barges as manure. Some is given to builders, when they require it for the foundations of any edifices that are “handy,” or rather it is carted thither for a nominal price, such as a trifle as beer-money for the men. Some, however, is sold for the same purpose, the contractors alleging that the charge is merely for cartage. Some, again, is given away or sold (with the like allegation) for purposes of levelling, of filling up cavities, or repairing unevennesses in any ground where improvements are being carried on; and, finally, some is sold to masons, plasterers, and brickmakers, for the purposes of their trade.

Even for such purposes as “filling up,” there must be in the “mixed mac” supplied, at least a considerable preponderance of the pure material, or there would not be, as I heard it expressed, a sufficient “setting” for what was required.

As a set-off to what is sold, however, I may here state that 30s. has been paid for the privilege of depositing a barge-load of mixed street dirt in Battersea-fields, merely to get rid of it.

The principal use of the unmixed “mac” is as a component part of the mortar, or lime, of the mason in the exterior, and of the plasterer in the interior, construction of buildings, and as an ingredient of the mill in brick-grounds.

The accounts I received of the properties of “mac” from the vendors of it, were very contradictory. One man, until lately connected with its sale, informed me that as far as his own experience extended, “mac” was most in demand among scamping builders, and slop brickmakers, who looked only to what was cheap. To a notorious “scamper,” he one morning sent three cart-loads of “mac” at 1s. a load, all to be used in the erection of the skeleton of one not very large house; and he believed that when it was used instead of sand with lime, it was for inferior work only, and was mixed, either for masons’ or plasterers’ work, with bad, low-priced mortar. Another man, with equal knowledge of the trade, however, represented “mac” as a most valuable article for the builder’s purposes, it was “so binding,” and this he repeated emphatically. A working builder told me that “mac” was as good as the best sand; it made the mortar “hang,” and without either that or sand, the lime would “brittle” away.

“Mac” may be said to be composed of pulverised granite and rain water. Granite is composed of quartz, felspar, and mica, each in granular crystals. Hence, alumina being clay, and silex a substance which has a strong tendency to enter into combination with the lime of the mortar, the pulverizing of granite tends to produce a substance which has necessarily great binding and indurating properties.

From this reduction of “mac” to its elements, it is manifest that it possesses qualities highly valuable in promoting the cohesive property of mortar, so that, were greater attention paid to its collection by the scavenger, there would, in all probability, be an improved demand for the article, for I find that it is already used in the prosecution of some of the best masons’ work. On this head I can cite the authority of a gentleman, at once a scientific and practical architect, who said to me,—

“‘Mac’ is used by many respectable builders for making mortar. The objection to it is, that it usually contains much extraneous decaying matter.”

Increased care in the collection of the material would, perhaps, remove this cause of complaint.

I heard of one West-end builder, employing many hands, however, who had totally or partially discontinued the use of “mac,” as he had met with some which he considered showed itself brittle in the plastering of walls.

“Mac,” is pounded, and sometimes sifted, when required for use, and is then mixed and “worked up” with the lime for mortar, in the same way as sand. By the brickmakers it is mixed with the clay, ground, and formed into bricks in a similar manner.