The collection of house refuse should be done satisfactorily, expeditiously, and economically.

At the present time there seem to be only three methods by which this is attempted to be effected; they are as follows:—

(1.) By a house to house call at intermittent periods.

(2.) By the scavengers giving notice of their approach by ringing a bell or by other signal, and requiring the householder to bring out the refuse to the cart, and

(3.) By placing public dustbins in different localities, and expecting householders in their vicinity to place the house refuse in these dustbins, which would then be cleared from time to time by the local authority.

The law is silent on the subject of what may be considered as an efficient collection and removal of house refuse, and experience only can teach us the best manner of thoroughly effecting this work without[18] losing sight of the economical side of the question; but it appears, on again referring to the table of statistics which have been previously mentioned, that nearly all the towns adopt the two first methods mentioned above for the removal of the house refuse, but that very few of them are able to adopt any public dustbins or "lay stall" accommodation for the temporary reception of the refuse, not only on account of their first cost, but also from the difficulty of finding suitable positions for them. This latter objection to the adoption of public dustbins arises in great measure from the fact that they are usually constructed of galvanised iron in the form of open boxes or troughs, which are readily accessible to young children and poultry, who often scatter their contents in every direction, and they are also generally open to the view of the inhabitants of the courts, and to passers by, whose "morale" it is found is certainly not improved by constant familiarity with the sight of filth.

If these dustbins were constructed with properly balanced self-closing lids, these objections would be overcome, and their first cost would be but trifling when compared with the benefit to be derived by placing them in some of the thickly populated courts and alleys which are unfortunately to be found in[19] nearly every town. Where there are no public dustbins the inhabitants of these courts throw their waste products upon the surface of the streets or courts, from time to time throughout the day, as it cannot be expected nor desired that such materials should remain, even for twenty-four hours, in their one living room, which is frequently over crowded, and has but little spare space even for the common necessities of life; but that these waste products should be thus strewn over the surface of the street or court is almost equally objectionable, and points to the enormous advantage to be gained by placing in convenient situations the covered dustbins that are described above, the contents of which could be easily emptied once a day.

The greatest difficulty would be found to be that of inducing the inhabitants to take the trouble to carry their house refuse to the dustbin, but they might be gradually educated up to this standard of cleanliness, and a few persons judiciously summoned and punished "pour encourager les autres," when detected in throwing any of their waste products on to the surface of the street or court, would no doubt have a very beneficial effect in assisting their education.

With reference to the question of a house to house call or visitation by the scavengers for the purpose of[20] removing the refuse. This is no doubt the method "par excellence" of all the systems for its effectual removal without much trouble to the householder, but except in suburban districts and for the collection of refuse from the better class of dwelling-houses and public institutions, the expense, delay, and difficulty which would be incurred in calling at every house throughout a town, would make it almost impracticable, and consequently this system is universally combined with that which is known as the bell or signal system, which simply means that the scavenging cart in going its rounds has a bell attached to it, or the horse, which bell rings automatically as the cart proceeds on its way; or the man in charge blows a trumpet, or calls in stentorian tones, "Dust oh!" On hearing this signal, but not before, the householder is expected to bring out the refuse in some convenient receptacle, which is then emptied into the cart by the scavenger.

As a matter of fact, the receptacles containing all the waste products of these householders are brought out and are placed in the gutter of the street close to the kerb, long before the cart makes its appearance or can be reasonably expected to do so.

These temporary receptacles are, as may be easily imagined of various sizes and shapes, and are com[21]posed of various materials. On one side you may see a well and suitably constructed galvanized iron box, with handles and cover complete, on the other an old band box, cigar box, or tin saucepan.

The result of these inappropriate receptacles filled with heterogeneous collections of house refuse being left unprotected in the public streets, is that their contents are quickly strewn about the surface of the street, either by their being upset accidentally, or purposely, by persons who gain a precarious livelihood by abstracting therefrom, and selling rags, bones, and similar articles, or by the dogs, ever on the alert for a hasty and disgusting meal, and the appearance of the street which has probably been carefully swept and garnished during the night or early in the morning, quickly assumes, especially in a high wind, a very offensive character, and probably has to be entirely re-swept and cleansed before the ordinary traffic of the day commences.

To obviate these evils arising from this practice almost universally adopted, I suggest the following plan:—

A specially designed frame or carriage must be constructed somewhat similar in appearance to a timber waggon; this must be furnished with a number of strong iron hooks, with or without simple[22] lifting gear, according to the strength and sizes of the receptacles hereafter described. Upon these hooks are to be hung cylindrical shaped galvanized iron boxes with balanced covers, and hopper-shaped mouths, and of such cubical capacity as may be found to meet the requirements of any district choosing to adopt my system. The modus operandi would be as follows:—The waggon should be drawn through certain selected streets at about 6.30 a.m.; the boxes or cylinders unhung from it, and placed in such suitable and convenient positions as may be found necessary; their distance apart may be about that of the ordinary street lamp posts, and their position may be in the street channel gutter close to the kerb of the footpath; they should be allowed to remain about a couple of hours, during which time the householders in the vicinity of the boxes would be expected to empty into them all the sweepings, garbage, and house refuse from their premises; at the end of this time the waggon would again appear, and the boxes or cylinders would be attached to the hooks, and be taken to the nearest refuse dep?t.

There are many advantages to be gained by adopting my proposed system, the principal one being that of preventing the disgusting practice of allowing the foul refuse from houses, to be openly displayed in the[23] public streets, in the manner previously described, and in preventing the possibility of such refuse being allowed to stay for a single instant upon the surface of the street, where even if it is afterwards carefully removed, an ugly stain is almost sure to remain for many hours afterwards.

Another advantage would be the great convenience to householders of that of having a ready receptacle for their refuse, only a few yards at the most from their doors.

The saving of time also in the collection would be considerable, as the scavengers need not wait one single moment beyond the time required to attach the cylinder to the waggon, and there is in addition the cleanliness with which this operation could be performed, thus conferring a great boon on the foot passengers in the streets, who, under the present system, are often half smothered by the dust when the scavengers are engaged in emptying the contents of the usual inappropriate receptacles into the ordinary dust cart.

The facilities also for cleansing or disinfecting the cylinders would be undoubted, and the economy, not only in time but in actual expense over the existing system, would be considerable, for the cylinders would last a long time without repairs being needed;[24] not so the ordinary dust cart, which speedily wears out, principally from the fact that the "tipping" necessary to empty it of its contents, is highly detrimental to its stability.

Having thus shown a method by which the collection of house refuse in crowded streets, where a house-to-house visit is impracticable, can be materially improved, I will pass on to the present system of the collection of refuse in the suburban and rural districts of a town by a house-to-house call.

A great improvement in this system would no doubt be effected by adopting the movable dust boxes I suggest in the chapter on "The Dustbin," as great delay and consequent expense would be saved thereby, and the work would be altogether more effectually and properly performed, but it is also found that very frequently the scavengers on calling at a house for the purpose of removing the accumulated refuse, are told by the servant that they cannot be admitted, either because it is an inconvenient hour, or that it is washing day, or that being a wet day the scavengers' boots are too dirty to walk over their clean passages or floor, or that the dustbin is not full, and that they must call another day, or some other equally plausible excuse, so that the visit is a useless one, and time is lost. Another evil[25] arising out of this is also the fact that as the scavenger's cart has usually a regular round, a fruitless visit as described, results in the dustbin remaining uncleared for perhaps another week, or even more, a state of things not at all to be desired.

In order to assist in obviating the chances of such useless visits by the scavengers, I would suggest a very simple remedy, which has already been tried in some towns with considerable success. It consists in the householder placing a card bearing the letter D, or some other distinguishing mark, in a conspicuous place in a window, when the services of the scavengers are required; these cards should be printed and circulated by the Sanitary Authority of the district, who should state on the back of the card the days on which the scavengers would visit each neighbourhood, with the approximate hour of the day in which they would appear, in each road or street if practicable, in order that the householder may not be unnecessarily inconvenienced by being obliged to keep the card for any length of time in his window.

The scavengers in passing, observe the signal, and call at the house, otherwise they pass on, unless specially called in by the occupants, thus avoiding any unnecessary delay in their rounds.

A visit from the scavengers either before seven or[26] after ten in the morning is generally very inconvenient for households of a superior class, and should be, if possible, carefully avoided by the Sanitary Authority.