Now the first question that presents itself to us is: what is house refuse? and how is it to be defined? for unless this point is satisfactorily settled, great onus and expense will be put on the local authority if they are to be compelled to remove all trade, garden, and other refuse in addition to what may be legally entitled house refuse.

Section 4, part I., Public Health Act, 1875, contains the following definition of the word house: "House" includes schools, also factories and other buildings in which more than twenty persons are employed at one time. But all that is apparently said in reference to the definition of refuse is to be found in "Glenn's Public Health Act," 1875, where in a foot note to section 44, part III. of the before named Act, is the negative argument "what is not refuse:" and describes one or two cases in which it was held that certain ashes from furnaces, etc., were to be designated as "trade refuse," and further says "that the intention of the Act was that only the[6] rubbish arising from the domestic use of houses should be removed."

On reference, however, to some local Improvement Acts, it appears that the definition is given more in detail, for we find that house refuse is there described as "all dirt, dust, dung, offal, cinders, ashes, rubbish, filth, and soil."

We may thus, we imagine, be fairly content with these definitions, and may assume that all house refuse legally so designated, and which it is the duty of the scavenger to remove, is really so removed by the direction of the local authority without dispute, but that the following articles, which frequently find their way into a domestic dustbin, are not in the strict terms of the Act expected to be removed by the scavenger, viz., (1) plaster from walls and brick bats, (2) large quantities of broken bottles and flower pots, (3) clinkers and ashes from foundries and greenhouses, (4) wall papers torn from the rooms of a house, (5) scrap tin (but not old tins which have contained tinned meats and which, although very objectionable and bulky, may be fairly assumed to be house refuse), and (6) all garden refuse such as grass cuttings, dead leaves, and the loppings from trees and shrubs. The Bromley Local Board issue a card on which is printed, amongst other information with[7] reference to the contract for the removal of house refuse, the following:—"It is hoped that householders will as far as possible facilitate the systematic removal of refuse by providing suitable dustbins, and directing their servants that ordinary house refuse only shall be deposited in such receptacles. The following are some of the items of refuse which the contractors are bound to remove, viz.:—cinder ashes, potatoe peelings, cabbage leaves, and kitchen refuse generally. But the contractors are not required to remove the refuse of any trade, manufacture, or business, or of any building materials or any garden cuttings or sweepings." Some valuable statistics have recently been prepared by me from answers obtained from upwards of ninety of the principal cities, and towns in England, in reply to a series of questions which I addressed to the local surveyors on the subject of scavenging, and on referring to these statistics it is found that out of these ninety towns, the authorities of only thirteen of them direct the removal of both trade and garden refuse without any special extra payment being made by the householder, but that this is only done when these materials are placed in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house. Several towns, however, it appears remove such[8] materials on special payments being made of sums varying from 1s. 6d. to 3s. per load.

Disputes frequently arise between the men employed in scavenging and the householder on these vexed questions as to the difference between house, trade, or garden refuse, a dispute often raised by the scavengers themselves, in the hope of obtaining a gratuity or reward for the clearance of a dustbin which no doubt, legally, they are perfectly justified in refusing to empty, and in order to lessen the chance of such disputes and to attempt to settle this question the following suggestions may be of value.

It would no doubt be vexatious if any sanitary authority were to absolutely refuse to remove the "garden" refuse from those houses to which a small flower garden was attached, whilst it would on the contrary be an unfair tax upon the general community if the refuse of large gardens was removed without payment. A good rule would therefore be to remove only such garden refuse as was contained in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house, and that as the removal of any kind of trade refuse would no doubt lead to abuses if done gratuitously by the sanitary authority, that this material should only be removed on payment of some sum, which should be previously fixed by the Local Authority,[9] and each case should be reported to the officer superintending the work before it was removed.

There are, of course, in addition to the ordinary house refuse the waste materials from the surface of the streets, and from markets and slaughter-houses, which have to be collected and disposed of by the Local Authority, but these materials should be collected in a special manner, independently of the ordinary removal of the house refuse.