THE public cleansing trade, I have before said, consists of as many divisions as there are distinct species of refuse to be removed, and these appear to be . There is the -refuse, consisting of different kinds, as () the wet house-refuse or "slops," and "night-soil," and () the dry house-refuse, or dust and soot; and there is the -refuse, also consisting of distinct kinds, as () the wet street-refuse, or mud and dirt; and () the dry street-refuse or "rubbish."

I now purpose dealing with the labourers engaged in the collection and removal of the lastmentioned kind of refuse.

Technologically there are several varieties of "rubbish," or rather "," for such appears to be the generic term, of which "rubbish" is a species. Dirt, according to the understanding among the rubbish-carters, would seem to consist of any solid earthy matter, which is of an useless or refuse character. This dirt the trade divides into distinct kinds, viz.:—

, "Soft dirt," or refuse clay (of which "dry dirt," or refuse soil or mould, is a variety).

. "Hard dirt," or "hard-core," consisting of the refuse bricks, chimney-pots, slates, &c., when a house is pulled down, as well as the broken bottles, pans, pots, or crocks, and oyster-shells, &c., which form part of the contents of the dustman's cart.

The phrase "hard-core" seems strictly to mean all such refuse matter as will admit of being used as the foundation of roads, buildings, &c. "Rubbish," on the other hand, appears to be limited, by the trade, to "dry dirt;" out of the trade, however, and etymologically speaking, it signifies all such and refuse matter as is rendered useless by wear and tear. The term , on the other hand, is generally applied to refuse matter, and to refuse matter in a state of minute division, while is the generic term for all or refuse matter. I shall here restrict the term rubbish to all that dry and hard refuse matter which is the residuum of certain worn-out or "used-up" earthen commodities, as well as the surplus earth which is removed whenever excavations are made, either for the building of houses, the cutting of railways, the levelling of roads, the laying down of pipes or drains, and the sinking of wells.

The commodities whose residuum goes to swell the annual supply of , are generally of an earthy nature. Such commodities as are made of or materials, go, when "used up," chiefly to form manure if of an animal nature, and to be converted into paper if of a vegetable origin. The refuse materials of our woollen clothes, our old coats and trousers, are either torn to pieces and re-manufactured into shoddy, or become the invigorators of our hop and other plants; whereas those of our linen or cotton garments, our old shirts and petticoats, form the materials of our books and letters; while our old ropes, &c., are converted into either brown paper or oakum. Those commodities, on the other hand, which are made of materials, become, when worn out, the ingredients of the prussiate of potash and other nitrogenised products manufactured by our chemists. Our old commodities, again, are used principally to kindle our fires; while the refuse of our fires themselves, whether the soot which is deposited in the chimney above, or the ashes which fall below, are employed mainly to increase the fertility of our land. Our worn-out commodities, on the other hand, are newly melted, and go to form fresh commodities when the metals are of the scarcer kind, as gold, silver, copper, brass, lead, and even iron; and when of the more common kind, as is the case with old tin, and occasionally iron vessels, they either become the ingredients in some of our chemical manufactures, or else when formed of tin are cut up into smaller and inferior commodities. Even the detritus of our is used as the soil of our market gardens. All this we have already seen, and we have now to deal more particularly with

But rubbish, as we have seen, consists not only of refuse earthen commodities, but of refuse earth itself: such as the soil removed during excavations for the foundations of houses, for the cuttings of railways, the levelling of roads, the formation of parks, the laying down of pipes or drains, and the sinking of wells. For each and all of these operations there is necessarily a certain quantity of soil removed, and the question that naturally occurs to the mind is, what is done with it?

There is, moreover, a kind of rubbish, which, though having an animal origin, consists chiefly of earthy matter, and that is the shells of oysters, and other shell-fish. Whence go they, since these shells are of a comparatively indestructible nature, and thousands of such fish are consumed annually in the metropolis? What, the inquirer asks, becomes of the refuse bony coverings of such fish?

Let us , however, endeavour to estimate what quantity of each of these kinds of rubbish is annually produced in London, beginning with the refuse earthen commodities.

There is no published account of the quantity of annually manufactured in this country. Mr. McCulloch tells us, "It is estimated, that the of the various sorts of earthenware produced at the potteries may amount to about or a year; and that the earthenware produced at Worcester, Derby, and other parts of the country, may amount to about or more, making the whole value of the manufacture or a year." What proportion of this quantity may fall to the share of the metropolis, and what proportion of the whole may be annually destroyed, I know of no means of judging. We must therefore go some other way to work in order to arrive at the required information. Now, it has been before shown, that the quantity of "dust," or dry refuse from houses, annually collected, amounts to tons or chaldrons yearly; and I find, on inquiry at the principal "yards," that the average quantity of Potsherds and broken crockery is at the rate of about half a bushel to every load of dust, or say per cent. out of the entire quantity collected. At other yards, I find the proportion of sherds to be about the same, so that we may fairly assume that the gross quantity of broken earthenware produced in London is in round numbers loads or tons per annum. The sherds run about pieces to the bushel, and assuming every of such pieces to be the remains of an entire article, there would be in each bushel the fragments of earthenware vessels; and thus the total quantity of crockeryware destroyed yearly in the metropolis will amount to vessels.

As to the quantity of , the number annually produced, which is between and , will give us no knowledge of the quantity yearly converted into rubbish. In order to arrive at this, we must ascertain the number of houses pulled down in the course of the twelvemonth; and I find, by the Returns of the Registrar-General, that the buildings removed between and have been as follows:—

Thus, then, we perceive that there have been, upon an average, very nearly houses annually pulled down in London within the last years, and I find, on inquiry among those who are likely to be the best-informed on such matters, that each house so pulled down will yield from to loads of rubbish; so that, altogether, the quantity of refuse bricks, slates, tiles, chimneypots, &c., annually produced in London must be no less than loads.

But the above estimate refers only to those houses which have been pulled down and never rebuilt; so that, in order to arrive at the gross quantity of this kind of rubbish yearly produced in the metropolis, we must add to the preceding amount the quantity accruing from such houses as are pulled down and built up again, or newly fronted and repaired, which are by far the greater number. These, I find, may be estimated at between and per cent. of the gross number of houses in

The quantity of refuse may easily be found by the number of oysters annually sold in Billingsgate-market. These, from the returns which I obtained from the market salesmen, and printed at p. of the volume of this work, appear to be, in round numbers, ; and, calculating that - of this quantity is sent into the country, the total number of shells remaining in the metropolis may be estimated at about . Reckoning, then, that shells go to the bushel (the actual number was found experimentally to be between and ), and consequently that are contained in every load, we may conclude that the gross quantity of refuse oyster shells annually produced in London average somewhere about loads. That this is an approximation to the true quantity there can be little doubt, for, on inquiry at of the largest dust-yards, I was informed by the hillman that the quantity of oyster-shells collected with the refuse dust from houses in the vicinity of , Whitechapel, and other localities at the east-end of the metropolis, averages bushels to the load of dust; about the west-end, however, half a bushel or a bushel to each load is the average ratio; while from the City there is none, the house "dust" there being free from oyster-shells. In taking district, however, with another, I am assured that the average may be safely computed at bushels of oyster-shells to every loads of dust; hence, as the gross amount of house-dust is equal to tons or loads per annum, the quantity of refuse oyster-shells collected yearly by the dustmen may be taken at loads. But, besides these, there is the quantity got rid of by the costermongers, which seldom or never appear in the dust-bins. The costers sell about oysters per annum, and thus the extra quantity of shells resulting from these means would be about loads; so that the gross quantity of refuse oyster-shells actually produced in London may be said to average between and loads per annum.

There still remains the quantity of to be calculated; this may be estimated as follows:—

. —Each house that is built requires the ground to be excavated from to yards deep, the average area of each being about yards square. This gives between and cubic yards of earth removed from the foundation of each house. A cubic yard of earth is a load, so that there are between and loads of earth displaced in the building of every new house.

The following statement shows—

Hence, estimating the number of new houses built yearly in the metropolis at , the total quantity of earth removed for the foundations of the buildings throughout London would be loads per annum.

. —The railways formed within the area of the metropolis during the last years have been—the Great Northern; the Camden Town, and Bow; the and Bow; and the North Kent Lines. The extension of the Southampton Railway from to Waterloo-bridge, as well as the Richmond Line, has also been formed within the same period, but for these no cuttings have been made.

The Railway Cuttings made within the area of the Metropolis Proper during the last years have been to the following extent:—

Hence, the gross quantity of earth removed from railway cuttings within the last years has been loads, or say, in round numbers, loads per annum.

. —According to a Return presented to Parliament, there were miles of new streets formed within the metropolitan police district between the years -; but in the formation of these no earth has been taken away; on the contrary a considerable quantity has been required for their construction. In the case of the lowering of , that which was removed from the top was used to fill up the hollow.

. —The only park that has been constructed during the last years in the metropolis is Victoria Park, at the east end of the town; but I am informed that, in the course of the works there, no earth was carted away, the soil which was removed from part being used for the levelling of another.

. —The earth displaced in the course of these operations is usually put back into the ground whence it was taken, excepting in the formation of some new sewer, and then a certain proportion has to be carted away. Upon inquiry among those who are likely to be best informed, I am assured that loads may be taken as the quantity carted away in the course of the last year.

. —In this there has been but little done. Those who are best informed assure me that within the last years no such works of any magnitude have been executed.

The account as to the quantity of rubbish removed in London, then, stands thus:—

Thus, then, we perceive that the gross quantity of rubbish that has to be annually removed throughout the metropolis is upwards of loads per annum.

Now what is done with the vast amount of refuse matter? Whither is it carried? How is it disposed of?

is of no value to the master carter, and is shot gratuitously wherever there is the privilege of shooting it; this privilege, however, is very often usurped. Great quantities used to be shot in what were, until these last years, Bishop Bonner's Fields, but now Victoria Park. At the present time this sort of rubbish is often slily deposited in localities generally known as "the ruins," being places from which houses, and indeed streets, have been removed, and the sites left bare and vacant.

But the main localities for the deposition of this kind of refuse are in the fields round about the metropolis. Each particular district appears to have its own special "shoot," as it is called, for rubbish, of which the following are the principal.

The rubbish of Kensington and is shot in the Pottery Grounds and Kensington-fields.

The rubbish of St. George's , Marylebone, and Paddington, is shot in the fields about Notting-hill and Kilburn.

The rubbish of , Strand, , St. Martin's, St. Giles's, St. James's, , West London, and , is shot in Cubitt's fields at and improvements.

The rubbish of Hampstead is shot in the fields at back of .

The rubbish of Saint Pancras is shot in the Copenhagen-fields.

The rubbish of , Clerkenwell, and St. Luke's, is shot in the Eagle Wharf-road and Shepherdess-fields.

The rubbish of East London and City is shot in the Haggerstone-fields.

The rubbish of Whitechapel, St. George's in the East, and Stepney, is shot in Stepney fields.

The rubbish of Hackney, Bethnal-green, and , is shot in the Bonkers-pond, Hackney-road.

The rubbish of Poplar is shot in the fields at back of New Town, Poplar.

The rubbish of is shot in the fields.

The rubbish of , Camberwell, and , is shot in Walworth-common and Kennington-fields.

The rubbish of Wandsworth is shot in Pottershole, Wandsworth-common.

The rubbish of Greenwich and Lewisham is shot in Russia-common, near Lewisham.

The rubbish of is used for ballast.

The quantity of rubbish annually shot in each of the above-mentioned localities appears to range from up to as high as and loads.

Of the earth removed in forming the foundation of new houses, between - and onesixth of the whole is used to make the gardens at the back, and the bed of the roads in front of them, while the entire quantity of the soil displaced in the execution of the "cuttings" of railways is carted away in the trucks of the company to form embankments in other places. Hence there would appear to be about from to loads of refuse bricks, potsherds, pansherds, and oyster-shells, and about loads of refuse earth deposited every year in the fields or "shoots" in the vicinity of the metropolis.

The refuse earth displaced in forming the foundations of houses is generally carted away by the builders' men, so that it is principally the refuse bricks, &c., that the rubbish-carters are engaged in removing; these they usually carry to the shoots already indicated, or to such other localities where the hard core may be needed for forming the foundation of roads, or the rubbish be required for certain other purposes.

The principal

Suppose that a collier requires ballast to the extent of tons; if house rubbish be used it will occupy the hold to a greater height by about inches than would the ballast derived from the bed of the Thames. The Thames ballast is supplied at a ton; the rubbish-ballast, however, was only to a ton, but now it is seldom used unless to mix with manure, which might be considered too wet and soft, and likely to ferment on the voyage to a degree unpleasant even to the mariners used to such freights. The rubbish, I am told, checks the fermentation, and gives consistency to the manure.

I am assured by a tradesman, who ships a considerable quantity of stable manure collected from the different mews of the metropolis, that comparatively little rubbish is now used for ballast (unless in the way I have stated); even for mixing, but a few tons a week are required up and down the river, and perhaps a small quantity from the wharfs on the several canals. Nothing was ever paid for the use of this rubbish as ballast, the carters being well satisfied to have the privilege of shooting it. of the principal shoots by the river side were at Bell-wharf, , and off . The rubbish of , it will be seen, is mainly "shot" as ballast.

The "" is readily got rid of; sometimes it is shot gratuitously (or merely with a small gratuity for beer to the men); but if it have to be carted or miles, it is from to a load. This is used for the foundations of houses, the groundwork of roads, and other purposes where a hard substratum is required. The hard-core on a new road is usually about inches deep. There are on an average miles of streets, yards wide, formed annually in London. Hence there would be upwards of loads of hard--core required for this purpose alone. Where the soil is of a gravelly nature, but little hard rubbish is needed. Oystershells form a much greater portion than they do now of the hard substratum of roads. or years ago the costermongers could sell their oyster-shells for a bushel. Now they cannot, or do not, sell them at all; and the law not only forbids their deposit in any place whatever, but forbids their being scattered in the streets, under a penalty of But as the same law provides no place where these shells may be deposited, the costermongers are in what of them described to me as "a quandary." man, who with his wife kept stalls in Tottenham Court-road, for fish (fresh and dried) and for shell-fish, and the other for fruit and vege- tables, told me that he gave " of those poor long-legged fellows who were neither men nor boys, and who were always starving and hanging about for a -penny job, to carry away a hamper-full of shells and get rid of them as he best could. O, where he put them, sir," said the man, "I don't know, I wouldn't know; and I shouldn't have mentioned it to you, only I saw you last winter and know you're inquiring for an honest purpose."

Another costermonger who has a large barrow of oysters and mussels, and sometimes of "wet fish" near King's-cross, and at the junction of with , Hatton-garden, was more communicative: "If you'll walk on with me, sir," he said, " show you where they're shot. You may mention my name if you like, sir; I don't care a d—— for the crushers; not a blessed d——." He accordingly conducted me to a place which seemed adapted for the special purpose. At the foot of and the adjacent streets runs the Fleet-ditch, now a branch of the common sewers; not covered over as in other parts, but open, noisome, and, as the dark water flows on, throwing up a sickening stench. The ditch is indifferently fenced, so that any with a little precaution may throw what he pleases into it. "There, sir," said my companion, "there's the place where more oyster-shells is thrown than anywhere in London. They're thrown in in the dark." Assuredly the great share of blame is not to those who avail themselves of such places for illegal purposes, but to those who leave such filthy receptacles available. The scattered oystershells along all the approaches, on both sides, to this part of the open Fleet-ditch, evince the use that is made of it in violation of the law. Many of the costers, however, keep the shells by them till they amount to several bushels, and then give the rubbish-carters a few pence to dispose of them for them.

Some of the costermongers, again, obtain leave to deposit their oyster-shells in the dustmen's yards, where quantities may be seen whitening the dingy dust-heaps, and a large quantity are collected with the house-dust and ashes, together with the broken crockery from the dust-bins of the several houses. The oyster-shells are carted away with the pansherds, &c., for the purposes I have mentioned.

I now come to deal with the rubbish-carters, that is to say, with the labourers engaged in the removal of the "hard" species of refuse; of which we have seen there are between and loads annually carted away; the refuse earth, or "soft dirt," being generally removed by the builders' men, and the refuse, crockeryware, &c., by the dustmen, when collecting the dust from the "bins" of the several houses.

The master are those who keep carts and horses to be hired for carting away the old materials when houses or walls are pulled down. They are also occasionally engaged in carrying away the soil or rubbish thrown up from the foundations of buildings; the excavations of docks, canals, and sewers; the digging

Perhaps not of these tradesmen is solely a rubbish-carter, for they are likewise the carters of new materials for the use of builders, such as lime, bricks, stone, gravel, slates, timber, ironwork, chimney-pieces, &c. Some of them are public carmen; licensed carmen if they work, or ply, in the City; but beyond the City boundaries no licence is necessary. This complication perplexes the inquiry, but I purpose to confine it, as much as possible, to the rubbish-carters proper, having defined what may be understood by "rubbish." These carters are also employed in digging, pick-axing, &c., at the buildings, the rubbish of which they are engaged to remove.

Among the conveyors of rubbish are no distinctions as to the kind. Any of them will week cart old bricks from a house which has been pulled down, and the next week be busy in removing the soil excavated where the foundations and cellars of a new mansion have been dug.

From inquiries made in each of the different districts of the metropolis, there appear to be from to tradesmen who, with the carting of bricks, lime, and other building commodities, add also that of rubbish-carting. These "masters" among them find employment for labouring men, some of whom I find to have been in the service of the same employer upwards of years.

The Post-Office Directory, under the head of rubbish-carters, gives the names of only of the principal masters, of whom several are marked as scavagers, dust-contractors, nightmen, and roadcontractors. The occupation abstract of the census, on the other hand, totally ignores the existence of any such class of workmen, masters as well as operatives. I find, however, by actual visitation and inquiry in each of the metropolitan districts, and thus learning the names of the several masters as well as the number of men in their employment, that there may be said to be, in round numbers, master rubbish-carters, employing among them operatives throughout London.

A large proportion of this number of labouring men, however, are casual hands, who have been taken on when the trade was busy during the summer (which is the the "brisk season" of rubbish-cartage), and who are discharged in the slack time; during which period they obtain jobs at dust-carting or scavaging, or some such outdoor employment. Among the employers there are scarcely any who are purely rubbish-carters, the large majority consisting of dust and roadcontractors, carmen, dairymen, and persons who have or horses and carts at their disposal. When a master builder or bricklayer obtains a contract, he hires horses and carts to take away any rubbish which may previously have been deposited. The contract of the King's Cross Terminus of the Great Northern Railway, for instance, has been undertaken by Mr. W. Jay, the builder; and, not having sufficient con- veyances to cart the rubbish away, he has hired horses and carts of others to assist in the removal of it. The same mode is adopted in other parts of the metropolis, where any improvements are going on. The owners of horses and carts let them out to hire at from for horse, to for per day. If, however, the job be unusually large, the master rubbish-carters often take it by contract themselves.

Although the may be classed among unskilled labourers, they are, perhaps, less miscellaneous, as a body, than other classes of open-air workers. Before they can obtain work of the best description it is necessary that they should have some knowledge of the management of a horse in the drawing of a loaded carriage, or of the way in which the animal should be groomed and tended in the stable. I was told by an experienced carman, that he, or any with far less than his experience, could in a moment detect, merely by the mode in which a man would put the harness on a horse and yoke him to the cart, whether he was likely to prove a master of his craft in that line or not. My informant had noticed, more especially many years ago, when labour was not so abundantly obtainable as it was last year, that men out of work would offer him their services as carmen even if they had never handled a whip in their lives, as if little more were wanted than to walk by the horse's side. An experienced carter knows how to ease and direct the animal when heavily burdened, or when the road is rugged; and I am assured by the same informant, that he had known of his horses more fatigued after traversing a dozen miles with a "yokel" (as he called him), or an incompetent man, than the animal had been after a miles' journey with the same load under the care of a careful and judicious driver. This knowledge of the management of a horse is most essential when men are employed to work "single-handed," or have confided to them singly a horse and cart; when they work in gangs it is not insisted upon, except as regards the "carman," or the man having charge of the horse or the team.

The master rubbish-carters generally are more particular than they used to be as to the men to whom they commit the care of their horses. It may be easy enough to learn to drive a horse and cart, but a casual labourer will now hardly get employment in rubbish-carting of a "good sort" unless he has attained that preliminary knowledge. The foreman of of the principal contractors said to me, "It would never do to let a man learn his business by practising on our horses." I mention this to show, that although rubbish-carting is to be classed among unskilled labours, training is necessary.

I am informed that - of the working rubbish-carters have been rubbish-carters from their youth, or cart, car, or waggon-drivers, for they all seem to have known changes; or they have been used to the care of horses in the capacity of ostlers, stable-men, helpers, coaching-inn porters, coachmen, grooms, and horse-breakers. Of

The mechanics among rubbish-carters I heard estimated, by men with equal means of information, as in and in . Among these mechanics were more farriers, cart and wheel wrights, than of other classes.

It seems to be regarded as an indispensable thing that working rubbish-carters should have quality—bodily strength. I am told that employer, who died a few weeks ago, used to say to any applicant for work, "It's no use asking for it, if you wish to keep it, unless you can lift a horse up when he's down."

As I have shown of the scavagers, &c., the employers in rubbish-carting may be classed as "honourable" and "scurfs." The men do not use the word "honourable," nor any equivalent term, but speak of their masters, though with no great distinctiveness, as being either "good," or "scurfs." As in other branches of unskilled labour where there are no trade societies or general trade regulations among the operatives, there are few distinctive appellations.

From the facts I have collected in connection with this trade, it would appear that there are master rubbish-carters in the metropolis, about of whom pay or more per week as wages, while the remaining pay less than that amount. The latter constitute what the men term the scurf portion of the trade; so that the honourable masters among the rubbish-carters may be said to comprise -ninths of the whole.

I will treat of the circumstances, characteristics, and wages of the men employed in the honourable trade.

And , as regards among the operative rubbish-carters, the work is as simple as possible.

There are—

. proper, or "carmen," who are engaged principally in conveying the refuse brick or earth to the several shoots.

. , or "gangers," who are engaged principally in filling the cart with the rubbish to be removed. Generally speaking, the offices are performed by the same individual, who is both carter and shoveller, and it is only in large works that the gangers are employed.

Master builders and others who require the aid of rubbish-carters for the removal of earth or any other kind of rubbish from ground about to be built upon, or from old buildings about to be repaired or pulled down, either hire horses, carts, and carmen, by the day, of the master rubbishcarters, or pay a certain price per load for the removal of the rubbish. If the job be likely to last some length of time, the builders pay the masters so much per load for carting away the rubbish; but if the job be only for a short period, the horses, carts, and carmen are hired of the masters for the time. The price paid to the master rubbish-carter ranges from to per load for the removal of rubbish and bringing back such bricks, lime, or sand as may be required for the building. The master rubbish-carter, in all cases, pays the men engaged in the removal of the rubbish.

The operative rubbish-carters (except in a very few instances) never work in gangs, either in the construction of new buildings or in old buildings about to be pulled down or repaired. In digging the foundations of new houses, the master builders, or speculators, building upon their own ground employ their own excavators, and engage rubbishcarters to remove the refuse earth, the latter being merely occupied in carting it away.

The principle of simple co-operation or gangwork occasionally prevails; and, when this is the case, the gang is employed in shovelling and picking, while the carman, as the shovellers throw out the rubbish, fills or shovels the rubbish into the cart.

Each rubbish-carter will, on an average, convey away from to loads a day, according to the distance he has to take it. Calculating men to remove loads per diem for months in a year, the gross quantity of rubbish annually removed would be very nearly loads.

In the regular trade are , or from to ; but the men are allowed half an hour for breakfast, an hour for dinner, and half an hour for tea, and almost invariably leave at half-past , so postponing the "tea" half-hour until after the termination of their work. In winter the hours are generally "between the lights," but on very short, dark, or foggy days, lanterns are used. The men employed by firm "often made up," I was told by of them, "for lost time, by shovelling by moonlight." The carman, however, has to get to his stable in the summer at o'clock in the morning, and to tend his horse after he has done work at night; so that the usual hours of labour with him are and per day, as well as Sunday-work.

The rubbish-carters are to being the weekly amount; and by which is indeed piece-work. The payment to the