Part 74
“The property of water, as an absorbent, was rendered strikingly apparent in the immediate and marked effects of its application, a purity and freshness remarkably contrasted to the former close and foul condition prevailing throughout. A test of this, striking and unexpected, was the change at different periods in the relative condition of atmosphere of the courts and of the contiguous streets. In their ordinary condition, as might have been expected, the atmosphere was purer in the streets than in the courts; it was to be inferred that the cleansing would have more nearly assimilated these conditions. This was not only the case, but it was found to have effected a complete change; the atmosphere of the courts at the close of the operations being far fresher and purer than the atmosphere of the streets. The effect produced was in every respect satisfactory and complete; and was the theme of conversation with the lookers-on, and with the men who conducted the operations.
“The expense of these operations, including water, would be, for--
“Church-passage (time, five minutes), 1-1/2_d._
“Lloyd’s-court (time, ten minutes), 3-1/4_d._
“Mr. Hale, another officer, gave a similar statement.”
Other experiments are thus detailed:--
“Lascelles-court, Broad-street, St. Giles’s. This court was pointed out to me as one of the worst in London. Before cleansing it smelt _intolerable_,” [_sic_] “and looked disgusting. Besides an abundance of ordinary filth arising from the exposure of refuse, the surface of the court contained heaps of human excrement, there being only one privy to the whole court, and that not in a state to be publicly used.... The cleansing operations were commenced by sprinkling the court with deodorising fluid, mixed with 20 times its volume of water; a great change, from a very pungent odour to an imperceptible smell, was immediately effected; after which the refuse of the court was washed away, and the pavement thoroughly cleansed by the hose and jet; and now this place, which before was in a state almost indescribable, presented an appearance of comparative comfort and respectability.”
It is stated as the result of another experiment in “an ordinary wide street with plenty of traffic,” that “water-carts and ordinary rains only create the mud which the jet entirely removes, giving to the pavement the appearance of having been as thoroughly cleansed as the private stone steps in front of the houses.”
With respect to Mr. Lee’s experiments in Sheffield, I find that Messrs. Guest, of Rotherham, are patentees of a tap for the discharge of water at high pressures, and that they had adapted their invention to the purpose of a fire-plug and stand pipe suitable for street-cleansing by the hose and jet. Church-street, one of the principal thoroughfares, was experimentally cleansed by this process: “The carriage-way is from 20 to 24 feet wide, and about 150 yards long. It was washed almost as clean as a house-floor in five minutes.” Mr. Lee expresses his conviction that, by the agency of the hose and jet, every street in that populous borough might be cleansed at about 1_s._ per annum for each house. “The principal thoroughfares,” he states, “could be thus made perfectly clean, three times every week, before business hours, and the minor streets and lanes twice, or once per week, at later hours in the day, by the agency of an abundant supply of water, at _less than half the sum necessary for the cartage alone_ of an equal quantity of refuse in a solid or semi-fluid condition.”
The highways most frequented in Sheffield constitute about one-half of the whole extent of the streets and roads in the borough, measuring 47 miles. This length, Mr. Lee computes, might be effectually cleansed with the hose and jet, ten miles of it three times a week, 21 miles twice a week, and 16 miles once a week, a total of 88 miles weekly, or 4576 miles yearly. The quantity of Water required would be 3000 gallons a mile, or a yearly total of 13,728,000 gallons. This water might be supplied, Mr. Lee opines, at 1_d._ per 1000 gallons (57_l._ 4_s._ per annum), although the price obtained by the Water-works Company was 6-1/2_d._ per 1000 gallons (371_l._ 16_s._ per annum). “I now proceed,” he says, “to the cost of labour: 4576 miles per annum is equal to 14-2/3 miles for each working day, or to six sets of two men cleansing 2-1/2 miles per day each set. To these must be added three horses and carts, and three carters, for the removal of such _débris_ as cannot be washed away and for such parts of the town as cannot be cleansed by this system, making a total of fifteen men. Their wages I would fix at 50_l._ per annum each. The estimate is as follows:--
“Annual interest upon the first cost of hose and pipes, three horses and £ carts 30 Fifteen men’s wages 750 Three horses’ provender 150 Wear, tear, and depreciation of hose, &c. 250 Management and incidentals, say 120 ------ £1300.”
The estimate, it will be seen, is based on the supposition that _the water supply should be at the public cost_, and not a specific charge for the purposes of street-cleansing.
The 47 miles of highway of Sheffield is but three miles less than those of the city of London, the cost of cleansing which is, according to the estimate before given, no less than 18,000_l._
The Sheffield account is divested of all calculations as to house-dust and ashes, and the charge for watering-carts; but, taking merely the sum paid to scavaging contractors, and assigning 1000_l._ (out of the 2485_l._), as the proportion of salaries, &c., under the department of scavagery in the management of the City Commissioners, we find that while the expense of street-cleansing by the Sheffield hose and jet was little more than 34_l._, in London, by the ordinary mode, it was upwards of 140_l._ per mile, or more than four times as much. The hose and jet system is said to have washed the streets of Sheffield as clean as a house-floor, which could not be said of it in London. The streets of the City, it should also be borne in mind, are now swept daily; Mr. Lee proposes only a periodical cleaning for Sheffield, or once, twice, and thrice a week. Of the cost of the experiments made in London with the hose and jet, in Lascelles-court, &c., nothing is said.
Street-cleansing by the hose and jet is, then, as yet but an experiment. It has not, like the street-orderly mode, been tested continuously or systematically; but the experiments are so curious and sometimes so startling in their results that it was necessary to give a brief account of them here, in order to render this account of the cleansing of the streets of the metropolis as comprehensive as possible. For my own part, I must confess the street-orderly system appears to excel all other modes of scavagery, producing at once the greatest cleanliness with the greatest employment to the poor. Nor am I so convinced as the theoretic and crotchety Board of Health as to the healthfulness of dampness, or the daily evaporation of a sheet of even clean water equal in extent to the entire surface of the London streets. It is certainly _doubtful_, to say the least, whether so much additional moisture might _improve_ the public health, which the Board are instituted to protect; rain certainly contributes to cleanliness, and yet no one would advocate continued wet weather as a source of general convalescence.
I shall conclude this account of the scavaging of London, with the following brief statement as to the mode in which these matters are conducted abroad.
In Paris, where our system of parochial legislation and management is unknown, the scavaging of the streets--so frequently matters of private speculation with us--is under the immediate direction of the municipality, and the Government publish the returns, as they do of the revenue of their capital from the abattoirs, the interments, and other sources.
In the _Moniteur_ for December 10, 1848, it is stated that the refuse of the streets of Paris sells for 500,500 francs (20,020_l._), when sold by auction in the mass; and 3,800,000 francs (equal to 152,000_l._) when, after having lain in the proper receptacles, until fit for manure, it is sold by the cubic foot. In 1823, the streets of Paris were leased for 75,000 francs (3000_l._) per annum; in 1831 the value was 166,000 francs (6640_l._); and since 1845 the price has risen to the sum first named, viz., 500,500 francs (20,020_l._); from which, however, is to be deducted the expense of cleansing, &c. I may add, that the receptacles alluded to are large places provided by Government, where the manure is deposited and left to ferment for twelve or eighteen months.
OF THE COST AND TRAFFIC OF THE STREETS OF LONDON.
I have, at page 183 of the present volume, given a brief statement of the annual cost attending the keeping of the streets of the metropolis in working order.
The formation of the streets of a capital like London, the busiest in the world--streets traversed daily by what Cowper, even in his day, described as “the ten thousand wheels” of commerce--is an elaborate and costly work.
In my former account I gave an estimate which referred to the amount dispensed weekly in wages for the labour of the workmen engaged in laying down the paved roads of the metropolis. This was at the rate of 100,000_l._ per week; that is to say, calculating the operation of relaying the streets to occupy one year in every five, there is no less than 5,200,000_l._ expended in that time among the workpeople so engaged. The sum expended in labour for the continued repairs of the roads, after being so relaid, appears to be about 20,000_l._ per week[30], or, in round numbers, about 1,000,000_l._ a year; so that the gross sum annually disbursed to the labourers engaged in the construction of the roads of London would seem to be about 2,250,000_l._, that is to say, 1,000,000_l._ for repairing the old roads, and 1,250,000_l._ per annum for laying down new ones in their place.
It now remains for me to set forth the gross cost of the metropolitan highways, that is to say, the sum annually expended in both labour and materials, as well for relaying as for repairing the roads.
The granite-built streets cost, when relaid, about 11,000_l._ the mile, of ten yards’ width, which is at the rate of 12_s._ 6_d._ the square yard, materials and labour included, the granite (Aberdeen) being 1_l._ 5_s._ per ton, and one ton of “seven-inch” being sufficient to cover about three square yards.
The average cost of a macadamized road, materials and labour included, if constructed from the foundation, is about 4400_l._ per street mile (ten yards wide)--5_s._ the superficial yard being a fair price for materials and labour.
Wood pavement, on the other hand, costs about 9680_l._ a mile of ten yards’ width for materials and labour, which is at the rate of 11_s._ the superficial yard.
The cost of _repairs_, materials and labour included, is, for granite pavement about 1-1/2_d._ per square yard, or 100_l._ the street mile of ten yards wide; for “Macadam” it is from 6_d._ to 3_s._ 6_d._, or an average of 1_s._ 6_d._ per superficial yard, which is at the rate of 1320_l._ the street mile; while the wood pavement costs about the same for repairs as the granite.
The total cost of repairing the streets of London, then, may be taken as follows:--
Repairing granite-built streets, per £ mile of ten yards wide 100 Repairing macadamized roads, per street mile 1320 Repairing wood pavement, per street mile 100
Or, as a total for all London,--
Repairing 400 miles of granite-built streets, at 100l. per mile 40,000 Repairing 1350 miles of macadamized streets, at 1320l. per mile 1,782,000 Repairing five miles of wood, at 100_l._ per mile 500 ---------- £1,822,500
The following, on the other hand, may be taken as the total cost of _reconstructing_ the London streets:--
£ Granite-built streets, per mile ten yards wide 11,000 Macadamized streets, per street mile 4,400 Wood „ „ 9,680
Or, as a total for the entire streets and roads of London,--
Relaying 400 miles of granite-built £ streets, at 11,000_l._ per mile 4,400,000 Relaying 1350 miles of macadamized streets, at 4400_l._ per mile 5,940,000 Relaying five miles of wood-built streets, at 9680_l._ 48,400 ----------- £10,388,400
But the above refers only to the road, and besides this, there is, as a gentleman to whom I am much indebted for valuable information on the subject, reminds me, the foot paving, granite curb, and granite channel not included. The usual price for _paving_ is 8_d._ per foot superficial, when laid--granite curb 1_s._ 7_d._ per foot run, and granite channel 12_s._ per square yard.
“Now, presuming that three-fourths of the roads,” says my informant, “have paved footpaths on each side at an average width of six feet exclusive of curb, and that one-half of the macadamized roads have granite channels on each side, and that one-third of all the roads have granite curb on each side; these items for 400 miles of granite road, 1350 macadamized, and 5 miles of wood--together 1755 miles--will therefore amount to
£ _s._ _d._ Three-fourths of 1755 miles of streets paved on each side, six feet wide, at 8_d._ per foot superficial 2,779,392 0 0 One-half of 1350 miles of macadamized roads with one foot of granite channel on each side, at 12_s._ per yard square 458,537 4 5 One-third of 1755 miles of road with granite curb on each side, at 1_s._ 7_d._ per foot run 489,060 0 0 --------------------- 3,726,989 4 5 Cost of constructing 1755 miles of roadway 10,388,400 0 0 ---------------------- Total cost of constructing the streets of London £14,115,389 4 5
“Accordingly the original cost of the metropolitan pavements exceeds fourteen millions sterling, and, calculating that this requires renewal every five years, the gross annual expenditure will be at the rate of 2,500,000_l._ per annum, which, added to 1,822,500_l._, gives 4,322,500_l._, or upwards of four millions and a quarter sterling for the entire annual cost of the London roadways.
“From rather extensive experience,” adds my informant, “in building operations, and consequently in making and paying for roads, I am of opinion that the amount I have shown is under rather than above the actual cost.
“In a great many parts of the metropolis the roads are made by the servants of a body of Commissioners appointed for the purpose; and from dear-bought experience I can say they are a public nuisance, and would earnestly caution speculating builders against taking building ground or erecting houses in any place where the roads are under their control. The Commissioners are generally old retired tradesmen, and have very little to occupy their attention, and are often quite ignorant of their duties; I have reason to believe, too, that some of them even use their little authority to gratify their dislike to some poor builder in their district, by meddling and quibbling, and while that is going on the houses which have been erected can neither be let nor sold; so that as the bills given for the materials keep running, the builder, when they fall due, is ruined, for his creditors will not take his unlet houses for their debts, and no one else will purchase them until let, for none will rent them without proper accesses. I feel certain that in those parts where the roads are made by Commissioners three times more builders, in proportion to their number, get into difficulties than in the districts where they are permitted to make the roads themselves.”
The paved ways and roads of London, then, it appears, cost in round numbers 10,000,000_l._ sterling, and require nearly 2,000,000_l._ to be expended upon them annually for repairs.
But this is not the sole expense attendant upon the construction of the streets of the metropolis. Frequently, in the formation of new lines of thoroughfare, large masses of property have to be bought up, removed, and new buildings erected at considerable cost. In a return made pursuant to an order of the Court of Common Council, dated 23rd October, 1851, for “An account of all moneys which have been raised for public works executed, buildings erected, or street improvements effected, out of the Coal Duties receivable by the Corporation of London in the character of trustees for administration or otherwise, since the same were made chargeable by Parliament for such purposes in the year 1766,” the following items are given relating to the cost of the formation of new streets and improvements of old ones:--
_Street Improvements forming New Thoroughfares._
Amount raised for Public Works, &c. Building the bridge across the river £. _s._ _d._ Thames, from Blackfriars, in the city of London, to Upper Ground-street, in the county of Surrey, now called Blackfriars Bridge, and forming the avenues thereto, and embanking the north abutment of the said bridge--(Entrusted to the Corporation of the city of London) 210,000 0 0
Making a new line of streets from Moorfields, opposite Chiswell-street, towards the east into Bishopsgate-street (now Crown-street and Sun-street), also from the east end of Chiswell-street westward into Barbican--(Corporation of the city of London) 16,500 0 0
Making a new street from Crispin-street, near Spitalfields Church, into Bishopsgate-street (now called Union-street), in the city of London and in the county of Middlesex--(Commissioners named in Act 18, George III., c. 78) 9,000 0 0
Opening communications between Wapping-street and Ratcliffe-highway, and between Old Gravel-lane and Virginia-street, all in the county of Middlesex--(Commissioners appointed under Act 17, Geo. III., c. 22) 1,000 0 0
Formation of Farringdon-street, removal of Fleet-market, and erection of Farringdon-market, in the city of London--(Corporation of the city of London) 250,000 0 0
Formation of a new street from the end of Coventry-street to the junction of Newport-street and Long-acre (Cranbourn-street), continuing the line of street from Waterloo Bridge, already completed to Bow-street (Upper Wellington-street), and thence northward into Broad-street, Holborn, and thence to Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury, extending Oxford-street in a direct line through St. Giles’s, so as to communicate with Holborn at or near Southampton-street (New Oxford-street); also widening the northern and southern extremities of Leman-street, Goodman’s-fields, and forming a new street from the northern side of Whitechapel to the front of Spitalfields Church (Commercial-street), and forming a new street from Rosemary-lane to East Smithfield, near to the entrance of the London-docks; also formation of a street from the neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament towards Buckingham Palace, in the city of Westminster (Victoria-street), all in the county of Middlesex; also formation of a line of new street between Southwark and Westminster Bridges, in the county of Surrey--(Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues) 665,000 0 0 NOTE.--The Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Woods have been authorised to raise further moneys on the credit of the duty of 1_d._ per ton for further improvements in the neighbourhood of Spitalfields, but the Chamberlain is not officially cognizant of the amount. Forming a new street from the northern end of Victoria-street, Holborn (formed by the Corporation to Clerkenwell-green, all in the county of Middlesex)--(Clerkenwell Improvement Commissioners) 25,000 0 0 Formation of a new line of streets from King William-street, London Bridge, to the south side of St. Paul’s Cathedral, by widening and improving Cannon-street, making a new street from Cannon-street, near Bridge-row, to Queen-street, and another street from the west side of Queen-street, in a direct line to St. Paul’s-churchyard, and widening Queen-street, from the junction of the said new street to Southwark Bridge; also improving Holborn Bridge and Field-lane, and effecting an improvement in Gracechurch-street and Ship Tavern-passage, all in the city of London--(Corporation of the city of London) 500,000 0 0 Finishing the new street left incomplete by the Clerkenwell Improvement Commissioners, from the end of Victoria-street, Farringdon-street, to Coppice-row, Clerkenwell, all in the county of Middlesex--(Corporation of the City of London) 88,000 0 0 ------------------- Total cost of forming the above-mentioned new thoroughfares 1,764,500 0 0
_Improving existing Thoroughfares._
Improving existing approaches, and forming new approaches to new London Bridge, viz., in High-street, Tooley-street, Montague-close, Pepper-alley, Whitehorse-court, Chequer-court, Chaingate, Churchyard-passage, St. Saviour’s churchyard, Carter-lane, Boar’s-head-place, Fryingpan-alley, Green Dragon-court, Joyner-street, Red Lion-street, Counter-street, Three Crown-court, and the east front of the Town Hall, all in the Borough of Southwark; also ground and premises at the north-west foot of London Bridge, Upper Thames-street, Red-cross-wharf, Mault’s-wharf, High Timber-street and Broken-wharf, Swan-passage, Churchyard-alley, site of Fishmonger’s Hall, Great Eastcheap, Little Eastcheap, Star-court, Fish-street-hill, Little Tower-street, Idol-lane, St. Mary-at-hill, Crooked-lane, Miles-lane, Three Tun-alley, Warren-court, Cannon-street, Gracechurch-street, Bell-yard, Martin’s-lane, Nicholas-lane, Clement’s-lane, Abchurch-lane, Sherborne-lane, Swithin’s-lane, Cornhill, Lombard-street, Dove-court, Fox Ordinary-court, Old Post Office Chambers, Mansion-house-street, Princes-street, Coleman-street, Coleman-street-buildings, Moorgate-street, London Wall, Lothbury, Tokenhouse-yard, King’s Arms-yard, Great Bell-alley, Packer’s-court, White’s-alley, Great Swan-alley, Crown-court, George-yard, Red Lion-court, Cateaton-street, Gresham-street, Milk-street, Wood-street, King-street, Basinghall-street, Houndsditch, Lad-lane, Threadneedle-street, Aldgate High-street, and Maiden-lane, all in the City of London--(Corporation of the City of London) 1,016,421 18 1 Widening and improving the entrance into London near Temple-bar, improving the Strand and Fleet-street, and formation of Pickett-street, and for making a new street from the east end of Snow-hill to the bottom of Holborn-hill, now called Skinner-street--(Corporation of the City of London) 246,300 0 0 Widening and improving Dirty-lane and part of Brick-lane, leading from Whitechapel to Spitalfields, and for paving Dirty-lane, Petticoat-lane, Wentworth-street, Old Montague-street, Chapel-street, Princes-row, &c., all in the county of Middlesex--(Commissioners appointed by the Act 18, Geo. III., c. 80) 1,500 0 0 Widening the avenues from the Minories, through Goodman’s-yard into Prescott-street, and through Swan-street and Swan-alley into Mansell-street, and from Whitechapel through Somerset-street into Great Mansell-street, all in the county of Middlesex--(Commissioners named in Act 18, George III., c. 50) 1,500 0 0 ------------------- Total cost of improving the above-mentioned thoroughfares 1,265,721 13 1
_Paving._
Paving the road from Aldersgate Bars to turnpike in Goswell-street, in the county of Middlesex--(Commissioners Sewers, &c., of the City of London) 5,500 0 0 Completing the paving of the town borough of Southwark and certain parts adjacent--(Commissioners for executing Act 6, George III., for paving town and borough of Southwark) 4,000 0 0 --------------- Total cost of paving the above-mentioned thoroughfares 9,500 0 0
Hence the aggregate expense of the preceding improvements has been upwards of 3,000,000_l._ sterling.
I have now, in order to complete this account of the cost of paving and cleansing the thoroughfares of the metropolis, only to add the following statement as to the traffic of the principal thoroughfares in the city of London, for which I am indebted to Mr. Haywood, the City Surveyor.
By the subjoined Return it will be seen that there are two tides as it were in the daily current of locomotion in the City--the one being at its flood at 11 o’clock A.M., after which it falls gradually till 2 o’clock, when it is at its lowest ebb, and then begins to rise, gradually till 5 o’clock, when it reaches its second flood, and then begins to decline once more. The point of greatest traffic in the City is London-bridge, where the conveyances passing and repassing amount to 13,099 in the course of twelve hours[31]. Of these it would appear, that 9351 consist of one-horse vehicles and equestrians, 3389 of two-horse conveyances, and only 359 of vehicles drawn by more than two horses. The one-horse vehicles would seem to be between two and three times as many as the two-horse, which form about one-fourth of the whole, while those drawn by more than two horses constitute about one-sixtieth of the entire number.