London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 2

by Henry Mayhew

Of the Rubbish Carters.

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 four. There is the house-refuse, consisting of two different kinds, as (1) the wet house-refuse or “slops,” and “night-soil,” and (2) the dry house-refuse, or dust and soot; and there is the street-refuse, also consisting of two distinct kinds, as (3) the wet street-refuse, or mud and dirt; and (4) the dry street-refuse or “rubbish.”

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

Technologically there are several varieties of “rubbish,” or rather “dirt,” for such appears to be the generic term, of which “rubbish” is strictly 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 two distinct kinds, viz.:—

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

2. “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”[32] 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 dry and hard refuse matter as is rendered useless by wear and tear[33]. The term dirt, on the other hand, is generally applied to soft refuse matter, and dust to dry refuse matter in a state of minute division, while slops is the generic term for all wet or liquid 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.

STREET TRAFFIC.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES AND HORSES PASSING THROUGH CERTAIN THOROUGHFARES WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON, BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 8 A.M. AND 8 P.M., UPON CERTAIN DAYS DURING THE YEAR 1850.

Date.	Situation.	Hour ending 9 A.M.
		Vehicles drawn by
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	230	61	20	A
9th „ „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	250	65	12	B
10th „ „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	268	76	17	C
11th „ „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	250	59	11	D
12th „ „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	140	20	8	E
13th „ „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	345	110	18	F
15th „ „	Poultry, by Mansion House	287	103	24	G
16th „ „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	185	63	14	H
17th „ „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	98	56	7	I
18th „ „	Threadneedle-street	47	47	4	J
19th „ „	Gracechurch-street, by St. Peter’s-alley	202	50	6	K
20th „ „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	121	15	1	L
22nd „ „	Bishopsgate Within, by Great St. Helen’s	194	58	7	M
23rd „ „	London Bridge	519	139	22	N
24th „ „	Bishopsgate-street Witht, by City boundy	148	51	4	O
25th „ „	Aldgate High-street, by ditto	335	68	22	P
26th „ „	Leadenhall-st., rear of East India House	193	45	13	Q
27th „ „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	274	35	26	R
29th „ „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	132	22	15	S
30th „ „	Lower Thames-street, by Botolph-lane	79	7	2	T
31st „ „	Blackfriars Bridge	268	42	17	U
1st Aug. „	Upper Thames-street, rear of Queen-street	97	28	15	V
2nd „ „	Smithfield Bars	180	16	7	W
3rd „ „	Fenchurch-street	175	20	11	X
		5017	1256	6421

Date.	Situation.	Hour ending 10 A.M.
		Vehicles drawn by
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	292	192	42	A
9th „ „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	380	166	6	B
10th „ „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	290	170	16	C
11th „ „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	360	155	13	D
12th „ „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	198	52	11	E
13th „ „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	483	301	21	F
15th „ „	Poultry, by Mansion House	437	315	10	G
16th „ „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	252	123	10	H
17th „ „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	172	177	15	I
18th „ „	Threadneedle-street	67	77	1	J
19th „ „	Gracechurch-street, by St. Peter’s-alley	200	99	23	K
20th „ „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	87	28	2	L
22nd „ „	Bishopsgate Within, by Great St. Helen’s	253	144	11	M
23rd „ „	London Bridge	744	339	45	N
24th „ „	Bishopsgate-street Witht, by City boundy	197	121	11	O
25th „ „	Aldgate High-street, by ditto	291	111	20	P
26th „ „	Leadenhall-st., rear of East India House	272	141	16	Q
27th „ „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	293	40	13	R
29th „ „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	180	37	5	S
30th „ „	Lower Thames-street, by Botolph-lane	117	10	3	T
31st „ „	Blackfriars Bridge	280	78	23	U
1st Aug. „	Upper Thames-street, rear of Queen-street	172	43	12	V
2nd „ „	Smithfield Bars	206	18	6	W
3rd „ „	Fenchurch-street	198	60	4	X
		6421	2997	339

Date.	Situation.	Hour ending 11 A.M.
		Vehicles drawn by
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	448	235	21	A
9th „ „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	480	181	9	B
10th „ „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	454	261	13	C
11th „ „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	433	184	11	D
12th „ „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	150	44	14	E
13th „ „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	703	385	36	F
15th „ „	Poultry, by Mansion House	654	398	19	G
16th „ „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	330	138	7	H
17th „ „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	252	210	17	I
18th „ „	Threadneedle-street	162	97	3	J
19th „ „	Gracechurch-street, by St. Peter’s-alley	308	113	18	K
20th „ „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	140	12	4	L
22nd „ „	Bishopsgate Within, by Great St. Helen’s	323	164	13	M
23rd „ „	London Bridge	955	334	43	N
24th „ „	Bishopsgate-street Witht, by City boundy	310	134	3	O
25th „ „	Aldgate High-street, by ditto	292	115	10	P
26th „ „	Leadenhall-st., rear of East India House	388	196	11	Q
27th „ „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	340	46	12	R
29th „ „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	220	32	10	S
30th „ „	Lower Thames-street, by Botolph-lane	153	15	7	T
31st „ „	Blackfriars Bridge	409	99	10	U
1st Aug. „	Upper Thames-street, rear of Queen-street	126	28	11	V
2nd „ „	Smithfield Bars	180	16	6	W
3rd „ „	Fenchurch-street	205	41	7	X
		8415	3478	315

Date.	Situation.	Hour ending 12 A.M.
		Vehicles drawn by
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	505	222	30	A
9th „ „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	530	154	14	B
10th „ „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	420	210	6	C
11th „ „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	367	137	5	D
12th „ „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	147	36	13	E
13th „ „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	768	390	11	F
15th „ „	Poultry, by Mansion House	690	373	17	G
16th „ „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	250	129	8	H
17th „ „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	270	184	7	I
18th „ „	Threadneedle-street	160	50	4	J
19th „ „	Gracechurch-street, by St. Peter’s-alley	320	175	12	K
20th „ „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	174	14	..	L
22nd „ „	Bishopsgate Within, by Great St. Helen’s	277	143	10	M
23rd „ „	London Bridge	820	274	30	N
24th „ „	Bishopsgate-street Witht, by City boundy	170	109	7	O
25th „ „	Aldgate High-street, by ditto	287	145	10	P
26th „ „	Leadenhall-st., rear of East India House	340	150	5	Q
27th „ „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	320	34	18	R
29th „ „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	220	39	12	S
30th „ „	Lower Thames-street, by Botolph-lane	90	7	8	T
31st „ „	Blackfriars Bridge	393	89	34	U
1st Aug. „	Upper Thames-street, rear of Queen-street	160	42	21	V
2nd „ „	Smithfield Bars	254	14	9	W
3rd „ „	Fenchurch-street	298	39	6	X
		8230	3159	297

	Hour ending 1 P.M.			Hour ending 2 P.M.			Hour ending 3 P.M.			Hour ending 4 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	460	218	13	415	230	19	550	231	10	496	237	4
B	453	160	10	435	158	13	373	50	12	270	100	7
C	530	256	3	330	180	4	400	221	7	288	242	1
D	390	156	9	377	155	5	390	167	7	525	201	12
E	165	40	9	180	49	6	150	32	12	172	40	7
F	680	334	6	664	336	9	665	338	4	730	339	7
G	680	358	5	595	337	9	548	321	6	575	330	5
H	243	115	6	223	118	4	184	107	2	215	128	4
I	275	208	4	253	180	8	305	185	3	276	172	3
J	160	50	1	120	32	2	164	46	2	157	37	1
K	295	87	10	330	81	12	360	93	11	375	123	18
L	160	9	..	215	15	2	227	9	1	283	20	1
M	260	125	11	164	70	4	320	113	6	287	140	5
N	775	296	23	765	255	28	793	284	24	845	305	30
O	191	112	4	243	96	3	285	97	8	231	103	1
P	300	135	10	249	123	7	260	112	17	274	122	13
Q	415	168	11	385	171	7	353	158	14	387	172	10
R	340	27	11	300	28	15	310	38	20	345	40	8
S	260	26	6	270	39	15	252	34	4	226	26	10
T	83	21	1	100	8	..	100	15	3	130	13	4
U	365	78	22	253	65	18	302	73	10	340	66	10
V	160	35	10	120	31	9	125	33	6	160	44	9
W	252	18	6	232	19	4	305	20	9	250	11	6
X	240	45	8	223	39	7	220	46	6	267	54	6
	8132	3077	199	7441	2815	210	7941	2923	204	8104	3065	182

	Hour ending 1 P.M.			Hour ending 2 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	460	218	13	415	230	19
B	453	160	10	435	158	13
C	530	256	3	330	180	4
D	390	156	9	377	155	5
E	165	40	9	180	49	6
F	680	334	6	664	336	9
G	680	358	5	595	337	9
H	243	115	6	223	118	4
I	275	208	4	253	180	8
J	160	50	1	120	32	2
K	295	87	10	330	81	12
L	160	9	..	215	15	2
M	260	125	11	164	70	4
N	775	296	23	765	255	28
O	191	112	4	243	96	3
P	300	135	10	249	123	7
Q	415	168	11	385	171	7
R	340	27	11	300	28	15
S	260	26	6	270	39	15
T	83	21	1	100	8	..
U	365	78	22	253	65	18
V	160	35	10	120	31	9
W	252	18	6	232	19	4
X	240	45	8	223	39	7
	8132	3077	199	7441	2815	210

	Hour ending 3 P.M.			Hour ending 4 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	550	231	10	496	237	4
B	373	50	12	270	100	7
C	400	221	7	288	242	1
D	390	167	7	525	201	12
E	150	32	12	172	40	7
F	665	338	4	730	339	7
G	548	321	6	575	330	5
H	184	107	2	215	128	4
I	305	185	3	276	172	3
J	164	46	2	157	37	1
K	360	93	11	375	123	18
L	227	9	1	283	20	1
M	320	113	6	287	140	5
N	793	284	24	845	305	30
O	285	97	8	231	103	1
P	260	112	17	274	122	13
Q	353	158	14	387	172	10
R	310	38	20	345	40	8
S	252	34	4	226	26	10
T	100	15	3	130	13	4
U	302	73	10	340	66	10
V	125	33	6	160	44	9
W	305	20	9	250	11	6
X	220	46	6	267	54	6
	7941	2923	204	8104	3065	182

	Hour ending 5 P.M.			Hour ending 6 P.M.			Hour ending 7 P.M.			Hour ending 8 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	470	255	13	435	219	17	329	200	8	405	198	11
B	639	251	25	330	111	4	615	209	17	219	92	6
C	375	235	9	360	220	4	330	210	3	214	202	4
D	390	177	5	415	142	6	337	126	4	250	136	8
E	187	36	12	185	40	8	175	44	10	141	46	11
F	671	427	8	645	303	16	482	319	7	271	212	9
G	565	381	10	505	310	10	455	344	3	292	299	4
H	340	135	8	300	159	16	242	142	16	140	101	3
I	255	206	7	242	180	8	177	176	1	186	140	1
J	150	45	3	157	45	3	115	30	3	77	31	..
K	302	135	24	310	113	13	253	79	6	250	75	6
L	223	20	..	180	26	3	115	15	..	94	12	..
M	380	150	11	320	123	7	270	127	7	222	120	3
N	975	336	33	970	305	33	680	264	18	510	258	30
O	309	113	8	305	126	8	203	112	8	177	99	3
P	248	141	16	276	110	15	220	100	11	190	96	3
Q	295	166	5	390	183	15	292	139	6	260	152	6
R	340	43	15	280	58	11	230	59	5	109	16	3
S	230	39	13	195	34	9	137	25	2	94	16	4
T	143	23	2	100	15	6	52	14	3	40	4	2
U	450	103	17	446	87	15	361	89	13	265	66	6
V	185	52	16	241	54	17	139	25	12	71	13	9
W	305	17	6	265	20	4	269	10	9	145	14	..
X	300	57	7	215	36	8	193	53	3	516	28	1
	8727	3543	273	8067	3019	256	6671	2911	175	5138	2426	133

	Hour ending 5 P.M.			Hour ending 6 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	470	255	13	435	219	17
B	639	251	25	330	111	4
C	375	235	9	360	220	4
D	390	177	5	415	142	6
E	187	36	12	185	40	8
F	671	427	8	645	303	16
G	565	381	10	505	310	10
H	340	135	8	300	159	16
I	255	206	7	242	180	8
J	150	45	3	157	45	3
K	302	135	24	310	113	13
L	223	20	..	180	26	3
M	380	150	11	320	123	7
N	975	336	33	970	305	33
O	309	113	8	305	126	8
P	248	141	16	276	110	15
Q	295	166	5	390	183	15
R	340	43	15	280	58	11
S	230	39	13	195	34	9
T	143	23	2	100	15	6
U	450	103	17	446	87	15
V	185	52	16	241	54	17
W	305	17	6	265	20	4
X	300	57	7	215	36	8
	8727	3543	273	8067	3019	256

	Hour ending 7 P.M.			Hour ending 8 P.M.
	Vehicles drawn by			Vehicles drawn by
	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.	1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
A	329	200	8	405	198	11
B	615	209	17	219	92	6
C	330	210	3	214	202	4
D	337	126	4	250	136	8
E	175	44	10	141	46	11
F	482	319	7	271	212	9
G	455	344	3	292	299	4
H	242	142	16	140	101	3
I	177	176	1	186	140	1
J	115	30	3	77	31	..
K	253	79	6	250	75	6
L	115	15	..	94	12	..
M	270	127	7	222	120	3
N	680	264	18	510	258	30
O	203	112	8	177	99	3
P	220	100	11	190	96	3
Q	292	139	6	260	152	6
R	230	59	5	109	16	3
S	137	25	2	94	16	4
T	52	14	3	40	4	2
U	361	89	13	265	66	6
V	139	25	12	71	13	9
W	269	10	9	145	14	..
X	193	53	3	516	28	1
	6671	2911	175	5138	2426	133

TABLE SHOWING TOTALS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION OF VEHICLE PASSING PER HOUR AND PER DAY OF 12 HOURS THROUGH CERTAIN STREETS WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON.

Date.	Situation.	Hours Ending												Total of 12 Hours	Average per Hour.
		9 A. M.	10 A. M.	11 A. M.	12 Noon	1 P. M.	2 P. M.	3 P. M.	4 P. M.	5 P. M.	6 P. M.	7 P. M.	8 P. M.
1850.
July 8	Temple Bar Gate	311	526	704	757	691	664	791	737	738	671	537	614	7741	645
„ 9	Holborn-hill, by St. And. Ch.	327	552	670	698	623	606	535	377	915	445	841	317	6906	575
„ 10	Ludgate-hill, by Pilgrim-st.	361	476	728	636	789	514	628	531	619	584	543	420	6829	569
„ 11	Newgate-st., by Old Bailey	320	528	628	509	555	537	564	738	572	563	467	394	6375	531
„ 12	Aldersgate-st., by Fann-st.	168	261	208	196	214	235	194	219	235	233	229	198	2590	215
„ 13	Cheapside by Foster-lane	473	805	1124	1169	1020	1009	1007	1076	1106	964	808	492	11053	921
„ 15	Poultry, by Mansion House	414	762	1071	1080	1043	941	875	910	956	825	802	595	10274	856
„ 16	Finsbury-pave., by South-pl	262	385	475	387	364	345	293	347	483	475	400	244	4460	371
„ 17	Cornhill, by Roy. Exchange	161	364	479	461	487	441	493	451	468	430	354	327	4916	409
„ 18	Threadneedle-street	98	145	262	214	211	154	212	195	198	205	148	108	2150	179
„ 19	Gracech-st., by St. Pet.-alley	258	322	439	507	392	423	464	516	461	436	338	331	4887	407
„ 20	Lombard-st., by Birchin-la	137	117	156	188	169	232	237	304	243	209	130	106	2228	185
„ 22	Bishopsg.-st., by Gt St. Hel.	259	408	500	430	396	238	439	432	541	450	404	345	4842	403
„ 23	London Bridge	680	1128	1332	1124	1094	1048	1101	1180	1344	1308	962	798	13099	1091
„ 24	Bishp.-st. out, by Cy. Bound	203	329	447	286	307	342	390	335	430	439	323	279	4110	342
„ 25	Aldgate High-street by Cy. Bound	425	422	417	442	445	379	389	409	405	401	331	289	4754	396
„ 26	Leadenhall-st., E. I. House	251	429	595	495	594	563	525	569	466	588	437	418	5930	494
„ 27	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	335	346	398	372	378	343	368	393	398	349	294	128	4102	341
„ 29	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	169	222	262	271	292	324	290	262	282	238	164	114	2890	240
„ 30	L. Thames-st, by Botolph-la	88	130	175	105	105	108	118	147	168	121	69	46	1380	115
„ 31	Blackfriars Bridge	327	381	518	516	465	336	385	416	570	548	463	337	5262	438
Aug. 1	U. Thames-st., rear of Qn.-st	140	227	165	223	205	160	164	213	253	312	176	93	2331	194
„ 2	Smithfield Bars	203	230	202	277	276	255	334	267	328	289	288	159	3108	259
„ 3	Fenchurch-street	206	262	253	343	293	269	272	327	364	259	249	545	3642	303
		6576	9757	12208	11686	11408	10466	11068	11351	12543	11342	9757	7697	125859	10488

Date.	Situation.	Hours Ending
		9 A. M.	10 A. M.	11 A. M.	12 Noon	1 P. M.	2 P. M.
1850.
July 8	Temple Bar Gate	311	526	704	757	691	664
„ 9	Holborn-hill, by St. And. Ch.	327	552	670	698	623	606
„ 10	Ludgate-hill, by Pilgrim-st.	361	476	728	636	789	514
„ 11	Newgate-st., by Old Bailey	320	528	628	509	555	537
„ 12	Aldersgate-st., by Fann-st.	168	261	208	196	214	235
„ 13	Cheapside by Foster-lane	473	805	1124	1169	1020	1009
„ 15	Poultry, by Mansion House	414	762	1071	1080	1043	941
„ 16	Finsbury-pave., by South-pl	262	385	475	387	364	345
„ 17	Cornhill, by Roy. Exchange	161	364	479	461	487	441
„ 18	Threadneedle-street	98	145	262	214	211	154
„ 19	Gracech-st., by St. Pet.-alley	258	322	439	507	392	423
„ 20	Lombard-st., by Birchin-la	137	117	156	188	169	232
„ 22	Bishopsg.-st., by Gt St. Hel.	259	408	500	430	396	238
„ 23	London Bridge	680	1128	1332	1124	1094	1048
„ 24	Bishp.-st. out, by Cy. Bound	203	329	447	286	307	342
„ 25	Aldgate High-street by Cy. Bound	425	422	417	442	445	379
„ 26	Leadenhall-st., E. I. House	251	429	595	495	594	563
„ 27	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	335	346	398	372	378	343
„ 29	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	169	222	262	271	292	324
„ 30	L. Thames-st, by Botolph-la	88	130	175	105	105	108
„ 31	Blackfriars Bridge	327	381	518	516	465	336
Aug. 1	U. Thames-st., rear of Qn.-st	140	227	165	223	205	160
„ 2	Smithfield Bars	203	230	202	277	276	255
„ 3	Fenchurch-street	206	262	253	343	293	269
		6576	9757	12208	11686	11408	10466

Date.	Situation.	Hours Ending						Total of 12 Hours	Average per Hour.
		3 P. M.	4 P. M.	5 P. M.	6 P. M.	7 P. M.	8 P. M.
1850.
July 8	Temple Bar Gate	791	737	738	671	537	614	7741	645
„ 9	Holborn-hill, by St. And. Ch.	535	377	915	445	841	317	6906	575
„ 10	Ludgate-hill, by Pilgrim-st.	628	531	619	584	543	420	6829	569
„ 11	Newgate-st., by Old Bailey	564	738	572	563	467	394	6375	531
„ 12	Aldersgate-st., by Fann-st.	194	219	235	233	229	198	2590	215
„ 13	Cheapside by Foster-lane	1007	1076	1106	964	808	492	11053	921
„ 15	Poultry, by Mansion House	875	910	956	825	802	595	10274	856
„ 16	Finsbury-pave., by South-pl	293	347	483	475	400	244	4460	371
„ 17	Cornhill, by Roy. Exchange	493	451	468	430	354	327	4916	409
„ 18	Threadneedle-street	212	195	198	205	148	108	2150	179
„ 19	Gracech-st., by St. Pet.-alley	464	516	461	436	338	331	4887	407
„ 20	Lombard-st., by Birchin-la	237	304	243	209	130	106	2228	185
„ 22	Bishopsg.-st., by Gt St. Hel.	439	432	541	450	404	345	4842	403
„ 23	London Bridge	1101	1180	1344	1308	962	798	13099	1091
„ 24	Bishp.-st. out, by Cy. Bound	390	335	430	439	323	279	4110	342
„ 25	Aldgate High-street by Cy. Bound	389	409	405	401	331	289	4754	396
„ 26	Leadenhall-st., E. I. House	525	569	466	588	437	418	5930	494
„ 27	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	368	393	398	349	294	128	4102	341
„ 29	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	290	262	282	238	164	114	2890	240
„ 30	L. Thames-st, by Botolph-la	118	147	168	121	69	46	1380	115
„ 31	Blackfriars Bridge	385	416	570	548	463	337	5262	438
Aug. 1	U. Thames-st., rear of Qn.-st	164	213	253	312	176	93	2331	194
„ 2	Smithfield Bars	334	267	328	289	288	159	3108	259
„ 3	Fenchurch-street	272	327	364	259	249	545	3642	303
		11068	11351	12543	11342	9757	7697	125859	10488

TABLE SHOWING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF EACH DESCRIPTION OF VEHICLE PASSING THROUGH CERTAIN STREETS WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON, BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 8 A.M. AND 8 P.M. (12 Hours.)

Date.	Situation.	Total Number of Vehicles drawn by			Total of the whole.	Average Number per Hour.			Average of the whole.
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	5035	2498	208	7741	419	206	17	645
9th „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	4974	1797	135	6906	414	149	11	575
10th „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	4259	2483	87	6829	354	207	7	569
11th „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	4484	1795	96	6375	373	149	8	531
12th „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	1990	479	121	2590	165	40	10	215
13th „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	7107	3794	152	11053	592	316	12	921
15th „	Poultry, by Mansion House	6283	3869	122	10274	523	332	10	856
16th „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	2904	1458	98	4460	242	121	8	371
17th „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	2761	2074	81	4916	230	172	7	409
18th „	Threadneedle-street	1536	587	27	2150	128	49	2	179
19th „	Gracechurch-st., by St. Peter’s-alley	3505	1223	159	4887	292	102	13	407
20th „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	2019	195	14	2228	168	16	1	185
22nd „	Bishopsgate-st., by Great St. Helen’s	3270	1477	95	4842	272	123	8	403
23rd „	London Bridge	9351	3389	359	13099	779	282	30	1091
24th „	Bishopsgate-st., out, by City Boundy	2769	1273	68	4110	30	106	5	342
25th „	Aldgate High-street, by City Boundy	3222	1378	154	4754	268	114	12	396
26th „	Leadenhall-street, East India House	3970	1841	119	5930	330	153	10	494
27th „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	3481	464	157	4102	290	38	13	341
29th „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	2416	369	105	2890	201	30	8	240
30th „	Lower Thames-st., by Botolph-lane	1187	152	41	1380	98	12	3	115
31st „	Blackfriars Bridge	4132	935	195	5262	344	78	16	438
1st Aug.	Upper Thames-st., rear of Queen-st.	1756	428	147	2331	146	35	12	194
2nd „	Smithfield Bars	2843	193	72	3108	237	16	6	259
3rd „	Fenchurch-street	3050	518	74	3642	254	43	6	303
		88304	34669	2886	125859	7358	2889	240	10488

Date.	Situation.	Total Number of Vehicles drawn by			Total of the whole.
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	5035	2498	208	7741
9th „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	4974	1797	135	6906
10th „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	4259	2483	87	6829
11th „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	4484	1795	96	6375
12th „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	1990	479	121	2590
13th „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	7107	3794	152	11053
15th „	Poultry, by Mansion House	6283	3869	122	10274
16th „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	2904	1458	98	4460
17th „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	2761	2074	81	4916
18th „	Threadneedle-street	1536	587	27	2150
19th „	Gracechurch-st., by St. Peter’s-alley	3505	1223	159	4887
20th „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	2019	195	14	2228
22nd „	Bishopsgate-st., by Great St. Helen’s	3270	1477	95	4842
23rd „	London Bridge	9351	3389	359	13099
24th „	Bishopsgate-st., out, by City Boundy	2769	1273	68	4110
25th „	Aldgate High-street, by City Boundy	3222	1378	154	4754
26th „	Leadenhall-street, East India House	3970	1841	119	5930
27th „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	3481	464	157	4102
29th „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	2416	369	105	2890
30th „	Lower Thames-st., by Botolph-lane	1187	152	41	1380
31st „	Blackfriars Bridge	4132	935	195	5262
1st Aug.	Upper Thames-st., rear of Queen-st.	1756	428	147	2331
2nd „	Smithfield Bars	2843	193	72	3108
3rd „	Fenchurch-street	3050	518	74	3642
		88304	34669	2886	125859

Date.	Situation.	Average Number per Hour.			Average of the whole.
		1 Horse and Equestrians.	2 Horses.	3 Horses or more.
8th July, 1850.	Temple Bar Gate	419	206	17	645
9th „	Holborn Hill, by St. Andrew’s Church	414	149	11	575
10th „	Ludgate Hill, by Pilgrim-street	354	207	7	569
11th „	Newgate-street, by Old Bailey	373	149	8	531
12th „	Aldersgate-street, by Fann-street	165	40	10	215
13th „	Cheapside, by Foster-lane	592	316	12	921
15th „	Poultry, by Mansion House	523	332	10	856
16th „	Finsbury Pavement, by South-place	242	121	8	371
17th „	Cornhill, by Royal Exchange	230	172	7	409
18th „	Threadneedle-street	128	49	2	179
19th „	Gracechurch-st., by St. Peter’s-alley	292	102	13	407
20th „	Lombard-street, by Birchin-lane	168	16	1	185
22nd „	Bishopsgate-st., by Great St. Helen’s	272	123	8	403
23rd „	London Bridge	779	282	30	1091
24th „	Bishopsgate-st., out, by City Boundy	30	106	5	342
25th „	Aldgate High-street, by City Boundy	268	114	12	396
26th „	Leadenhall-street, East India House	330	153	10	494
27th „	Eastcheap, by Philpot-lane	290	38	13	341
29th „	Tower-street, by Mark-lane	201	30	8	240
30th „	Lower Thames-st., by Botolph-lane	98	12	3	115
31st „	Blackfriars Bridge	344	78	16	438
1st Aug.	Upper Thames-st., rear of Queen-st.	146	35	12	194
2nd „	Smithfield Bars	237	16	6	259
3rd „	Fenchurch-street	254	43	6	303
		7358	2889	240	10488

The commodities whose residuum goes to swell the annual supply of rubbish, are generally of an earthy nature. Such commodities as are made of fibrous or textile 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 leathern materials, become, when worn out, the ingredients of the prussiate of potash and other nitrogenised products manufactured by our chemists. Our old wooden 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 metal 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 streets is used as the soil of our market gardens. All this we have already seen, and we have now to deal more particularly with the refuse of the sole remaining materials, viz., those of an earthy kind, and out of which are made our bricks, our earthenware and porcelain, as well as our glass, plaster, and stone commodities. What becomes of all these materials when the articles made of them are no longer fit for use? The old glass is, like the old metal, re-melted and made into new commodities; some broken bottles are used for the tops of walls as a protection against trespassers; and the old bricks, when sound, are employed again for inferior brick-work; but what becomes of the rest of the earthen materials—the unsound bricks or “bats,” the old plaster and mortar, the refuse slates and tiles and chimney-pots, the broken pans, and dishes, and other crocks—in a word, the potsherds and pansherds[34], as the rubbish-carters call them—what is done with these?

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

There is no published account of the quantity of crockeryware annually manufactured in this country. Mr. McCulloch tells us, “It is estimated, that the value of the various sorts of earthenware produced at the potteries may amount to about 1,700,000l. or 1,800,000l. a year; and that the earthenware produced at Worcester, Derby, and other parts of the country, may amount to about 850,000l. or more, making the whole value of the manufacture 2,550,000l. or 2,650,000l. 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 900,000 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 1 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 9000 loads or tons per annum. The sherds run about 250 pieces to the bushel, and assuming every five of such pieces to be the remains of an entire article, there would be in each bushel the fragments of fifty earthenware vessels; and thus the total quantity of crockeryware destroyed yearly in the metropolis will amount to 18,000,000 vessels.

As to the quantity of refuse bricks, the number annually produced, which is between 1,500,000,000 and 2,000,000,000, 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 1841 and 1851 have been as follows:—

Decrease in the Number of Houses throughout London between 1841 and 1851.

	Total Decrease in 10 Years.	Annual Average Decrease.
St. Martin’s	116	11·6
St. James’s, Westminster	130	13·0
St. Giles’s	181	18·1
Strand	389	38·9
Holborn	86	8·6
East London	11	1·1
West London	265	26·5
London, City of	592	59·2
Whitechapel	2	·2
St. Saviour’s, Southwark	46	4·6
St. Olave’s	158	15·8
Total	1976	197·6

Thus, then, we perceive that there have been, upon an average, very nearly 200 houses annually pulled down in London within the last ten 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 40 to 50 loads of rubbish; so that, altogether, the quantity of refuse bricks, slates, tiles, chimney-pots, &c., annually produced in London must be no less than 8000 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 5 and 10 per cent. of the gross number of houses in the metropolis. In some quarters (the older parts of London, for instance,) the proportion is much higher, while in the suburbs, or newer districts, it is scarcely half per cent. Each of the houses so new-fronted or repaired may be said to yield, on an average, 10 loads of rubbish, and, at this rate, the yearly quantity of refuse bricks, mortar, &c., proceeding from such a source, will be 150,000 loads per annum; so that the total amount of rubbish produced in London by the demolition and reparation of houses would appear to be about 160,000 loads yearly.

The quantity of refuse oyster shells 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. 63 of the first volume of this work, appear to be, in round numbers, 500,000,000; and, calculating that one-third of this quantity is sent into the country, the total number of shells remaining in the metropolis may be estimated at about 650,000,000. Reckoning, then, that 500 shells go to the bushel (the actual number was found experimentally to be between 525 and 550), and consequently that 20,000 are contained in every load, we may conclude that the gross quantity of refuse oyster shells annually produced in London average somewhere about 30,000 loads. That this is an approximation to the true quantity there can be little doubt, for, on inquiry at one of the largest dust-yards, I was informed by the hill-man that the quantity of oyster-shells collected with the refuse dust from houses in the vicinity of Shoreditch, Whitechapel, and other localities at the east-end of the metropolis, averages 6 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 one district, however, with another, I am assured that the average may be safely computed at 2 bushels of oyster-shells to every 3 loads of dust; hence, as the gross amount of house-dust is equal to 900,000 tons or loads per annum, the quantity of refuse oyster-shells collected yearly by the dustmen may be taken at 15,000 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 124,000,000 oysters per annum, and thus the extra quantity of shells resulting from these means would be about 12,400 loads; so that the gross quantity of refuse oyster-shells actually produced in London may be said to average between 25,000 and 30,000 loads per annum.

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

1. Foundations of Houses.—Each house that is built requires the ground to be excavated from two to three yards deep, the average area of each being about nine yards square. This gives between 160 and 200 cubic yards of earth removed from the foundation of each house. A cubic yard of earth is a load, so that there are between 160 and 200 loads of earth displaced in the building of every new house.

The following statement shows—

The Number of Houses Built throughout London between 1841 and 1851.

	Total No. of Houses built in 10 Years.	Average No. of Houses built per Year.
West Districts	9,624	962·4
North Districts	13,778	1377·8
Central Districts	349	34·9
East Districts	8,343	834·3
South Districts	14,807	1480·7
Total	46,901	4690·1

Hence, estimating the number of new houses built yearly in the metropolis at 4500, the total quantity of earth removed for the foundations of the buildings throughout London would be 800,000 loads per annum.

2. The Cuttings of Railways.—The railways formed within the area of the metropolis during the last ten years have been—the Great Northern; the Camden Town, and Bow; the West India Docks and Bow; and the North Kent Lines. The extension of the Southampton Railway from Vauxhall 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 ten years have been to the following extent:—

Railways.	Length of Cutting.	Width of Cutting.		Depth of Cutting.	Quantity of earth Removed.
		At top.	At bottom.
	Miles.	Yards.	Yards.	Yards.	Loads.
Great Northern	1½	12	10	10	290,400
Camden Town and Bow	1½	12	10	10	290,400
West India Docks and Bow	2	15	10	12	528,000
North Kent	2	15	10	12	528,000

Hence, the gross quantity of earth removed from railway cuttings within the last ten years has been 1,636,800 loads, or say, in round numbers, 160,000 loads per annum.

3. The Cutting of Roads and Streets.—According to a Return presented to Parliament, there were 200 miles of new streets formed within the metropolitan police district between the years 1839-49; 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 Holborn-hill, that which was removed from the top was used to fill up the hollow.

4. The Formation of Parks.—The only park that has been constructed during the last ten 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 one part being used for the levelling of another.

5. Pipe and Sewer Works.—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 1000 loads may be taken as the quantity carted away in the course of the last year.

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

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

Refuse Earthen Materials.	Loads per Annum.
Potsherds and Pansherds	9,000
Old bricks, tiles, slates, mortar, &c.	160,000
Oyster-shells	25,000
Refuse Earth.
Foundations of houses	800,000
Railway cuttings	160,000
Pipe and sewer laying	1,000
	1,155,000

Thus, then, we perceive that the gross quantity of rubbish that has to be annually removed throughout the metropolis is upwards of 1,000,000 loads per annum.

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

The rubbish from the house building or removing 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 eight 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.

Rubbish shoots.

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

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

The rubbish of Westminster, Strand, Holborn, St. Martin’s, St. Giles’s, St. James’s, Westminster, West London, and Southwark, is shot in Cubitt’s fields at Millbank and Westminster improvements.

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

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

The rubbish of Islington, 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 Shoreditch, 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 Bermondsey is shot in the Bermondsey fields.

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

The rubbish of Wandsworth is shot in Potters-hole, Wandsworth-common.

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

The rubbish of Rotherhithe is used for ballast.

The quantity of rubbish annually shot in each of the above-mentioned localities appears to range from 5000 up to as high as 30,000 and 40,000 loads.

Of the earth removed in forming the foundation of new houses, between one-fourth and one-sixth 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 160,000 to 200,000 loads of refuse bricks, potsherds, pansherds, and oyster-shells, and about 600,000 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 use to which the “rubbish” is put is for levelling, when the hollow part of any newly-made road has to be filled up, or garden or lawn ground has to be levelled for a new mansion. Rubbish, at one time, was in demand for the ballasting of small coasting vessels. For such ballasting 2d. a ton has to be paid to the corporation of the Trinity House. This rubbish has been used, but sometimes surreptitiously, for ballast, unmixed with other things. It is, however, light and inferior ballast, and occupies more space than the gravel ballast from the bed of the Thames.

Suppose that a collier requires ballast to the extent of 60 tons; if house rubbish be used it will occupy the hold to a greater height by about 10 inches than would the ballast derived from the bed of the Thames. The Thames ballast is supplied at 1s. a ton; the rubbish-ballast, however, was only 3d. to 6d. 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. Two of the principal shoots by the river side were at Bell-wharf, Shadwell, and off Wapping-street. The rubbish of Rotherhithe, it will be seen, is mainly “shot” as ballast.

The “hard-core” 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 three or four miles, it is from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 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 nine inches deep. There are on an average 20 miles of streets, 15 yards wide, formed annually in London. Hence there would be upwards of 100,000 loads of hard-core required for this purpose alone. Where the soil is of a gravelly nature, but little hard rubbish is needed. Oyster-shells did form a much greater portion than they do now of the hard substratum of roads. Eight or nine years ago the costermongers could sell their oyster-shells for 6d. 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 5l. But as the same law provides no place where these shells may be deposited, the costermongers are in what one of them described to me as “a quandary.” One man, who with his wife kept two stalls in Tottenham Court-road, one for fish (fresh and dried) and for shell-fish, and the other for fruit and vegetables, told me that he gave “one of those poor long-legged fellows who were neither men nor boys, and who were always starving and hanging about for a two-penny job, two-pence 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 Leather-lane with Back-hill, Hatton-garden, was more communicative: “If you’ll walk on with me, sir,” he said, “I’ll 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 Saffron-hill 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 one 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 oyster-shells 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 160,000 and 200,000 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 Rubbish-Carters 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 of artesian wells, &c. This seems to comprise what in this carrying or removing trade is accounted “rubbish.”

Perhaps not one 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, iron-work, 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 one 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 140 to 150 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 840 labouring men, some of whom I find to have been in the service of the same employer upwards of 20 years.

The Post-Office Directory, under the head of rubbish-carters, gives the names of only 35 of the principal masters, of whom several are marked as scavagers, dust-contractors, nightmen, and road-contractors. 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, 150 master rubbish-carters, employing among them 840 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 “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 out-door employment. Among the employers there are scarcely any who are purely rubbish-carters, the large majority consisting of dust and road-contractors, carmen, dairymen, and persons who have two or three 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 conveyances 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 7s. for one horse, to 14s. for two per day. If, however, the job be unusually large, the master rubbish-carters often take it by contract themselves.

Although the operative rubbish-carters 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 one 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 one 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 fifteen 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 one 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, some training is necessary.

THE RUBBISH CARTER.

[From a Daguerreotype by Beard.]

I am informed that one-third 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 remainder, one-half, I am informed, have “had a turn” at such avocations as scavagery, bricklayers’ labouring, dock work, railway excavating, night work, and the many toils to which such men resort in their struggles to obtain bread, whatever may have been their original occupation, which is rarely that of an artizan. The other, and what may be called the greater half of the remaining number, is composed of agricultural labourers who were rubbish-carters in the country, and of the many men who have had the care of horses and vehicles in the provinces, and who have sought the metropolis, depending upon their thews and sinews for a livelihood, as porters, or carmen, or labourers in almost any capacity. The most of these men at the plough, the harrow, the manure-cart, the hay and corn harvests, have been practised carters and horse drivers before they sought the expected gold in the streets of London. Full a third of the whole body of rubbish-carters are Irishmen, who in Ireland were small farmers, or cottiers, or agricultural labourers, or belonged to some of the classes I have described.

The mechanics among rubbish-carters I heard estimated, by men with equal means of information, as one in twenty and one in fifteen. Among these quondam 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 one quality—bodily strength. I am told that one 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 180 master rubbish-carters in the metropolis, about 140 of whom pay 18s. or more per week as wages, while the remaining 40 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 seven-ninths of the whole.

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

And first, as regards the division of labour among the operative rubbish-carters, the work is as simple as possible.

There are—

1. The Rubbish-Carters proper, or “carmen,” who are engaged principally in conveying the refuse brick or earth to the several shoots.

2. The Rubbish-Shovellers, or “gangers,” who are engaged principally in filling the cart with the rubbish to be removed. Generally speaking, the two 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 rubbish-carters, 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 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. 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 rubbish-carters to remove the refuse earth, the latter being merely occupied in carting it away.

The principle of simple co-operation or gang-work 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 two to five loads a day, according to the distance he has to take it. Calculating 850 men to remove four loads per diem for five months in a year, the gross quantity of rubbish annually removed would be very nearly 326,000 loads.

In the regular trade the hours of daily labour are twelve, or from six to six; 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 five, 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 one firm “often made up,” I was told by one of them, “for lost time, by shovelling by moonlight.” The carman, however, has to get to his stable in the summer at four 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 fifteen and sixteen per day, as well as Sunday-work.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF OPERATIVE RUBBISH-CARTERS EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT LONDON, THE WAGES RECEIVED BY THEM, THE NUMBER OF WEEKS THEY ARE EMPLOYED, AS WELL AS THE QUANTITY OF RUBBISH REMOVED BY THEM IN THE COURSE OF THE YEAR.

Master Rubbish Carters.		No. of Operative Rubbish-Carting.	No. of Shovellers working in Gangs.	Quantity of Rubbish carted Daily.	Quantity of Rubbish carted Annually.	No. of days in the week each Operative is employed at Rubbish-Carting.	No. of weeks during the year each Operative is engaged in Removing Rubbish.	Weekly Wages of Rubbish-Carters.	Weekly Wages of the Operatives working in Gangs at Rubbish-Carting.
				lds.	loads.			s.	s.
Kensington.	Mr. J. Bird	5	..	15	2340	6	26	18	..
	— Hough	3	..	9	1404	6	26	18	..
	— Dubbins	3	..	9	1404	6	26	18	..
	— Taylor	3	..	12	1872	6	26	18	..
	— Gale	3	..	12	1872	6	26	18	..
	— G. Bird	10	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
Chelsea.	— Nicholls	10	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Emmerson	5	..	15	2340	6	26	18	..
	— Freeman	5	..	15	2340	6	26	18	..
	— Pattison	2	..	6	936	6	26	18	..
	— Porter	6	..	18	2808	6	26	18	..
St. George’s, Hanover-sq.	— Rawlins	4	..	16	1248	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	2	..	8	624	6	13	18	..
	— Watkins	5	..	15	1170	6	13	18	..
	— Liddiard	5	..	15	1170	6	13	18	..
Westminster.	— Farmer	4	..	16	1920	6	20	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	4	30	2340	6	13	18	18
	— Reddin	6	4	30	2340	6	13	18	18
	— Francis	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
Westminster Improvements.	— Chadwick	3	..	15	2340	6	26	18	..
	— Francis	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Farmer	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Duggan	8	..	40	6240	6	26	18	..
St. Martin’s.	— T. Cooper	3	3	24	1872	6	13	18	20
	— Wall	2	2	16	1248	6	13	18	20
	— Duggan	4	..	16	1248	6	13	18	..
St. James’s, Westminster.	— Nicolls	5	..	20	1560	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	2	..	8	624	6	13	18	..
	— Watkins	5	..	15	810	6	9	18	..
Mary-le-bone.	— Freeman	3	..	12	2808	6	39	18	..
	— Curmock	4	..	16	2496	6	26	18	..
	— Nicolls	8	..	24	1872	3	26	18	..
	— Watkins	10	..	40	4160	4	26	18	..
	— Perkins	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Culverwell	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
West London.	— Rutty	3	..	12	360	5	6	18	..
	— Kitchener	3	..	15	360	6	4	18	..
	— Wickham	3	..	12	240	5	4	18	..
	— Porter	4	..	16	864	6	9	18	..
West London Improvements.	— Crook	3	..	6	468	6	13	18	..
	— M’Carthy	6	..	30	4680	6	26	20	..
	— Reddin	5	..	25	3900	6	26	18	..
	— Rooke	6	..	30	4680	6	26	18	..
	— Bugbee	5	..	25	3900	6	26	18	..
	— Chadwick	5	..	25	3900	6	26	18	..
London City.	— Bateman	3	..	12	288	6	4	18	..
	— Tame	4	..	12	216	6	3	18	..
	— Walker	2	..	8	144	6	3	18	..
	— Harmadu	3	..	9	216	6	4	18	..
	— Bindy	2	..	6	72	3	4	18	..
London City Improvements.	— Duggan	10	..	50	7800	6	26	16	..
	— Bugbee	20	..	100	15600	6	26	18	..
	— Gould	10	..	50	7800	6	26	18	..
Shoreditch.	— Booth	5	..	20	360	3	6	18	..
	— Styles	2	..	8	96	3	4	18	..
	— Wood	5	..	20	780	3	13	18	..
	— Gould	5	..	20	1560	6	13	18	..
Bethnal Green.	— Calvert	2	..	8	240	3	10	15	..
	— Newman	2	..	6	234	3	13	16	..
	— Rooke	4	..	16	624	3	13	18	..
	— Tilley	3	..	12	936	6	13	18	..
Whitechapel.	— Newman	3	..	9	216	3	8	16	..
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	234	3	13	18	..
	— Abbott	2	..	6	90	3	5	18	..
St. George’s in the East.	— Clarke	6	..	18	360	4	5	16	..
	— Calvert	4	..	16	192	3	4	15	..
	— Newman	3	..	12	216	3	6	16	..
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	108	3	6	18	..
Stepney.	— Abbott	6	..	18	432	3	8	18	..
	— Newman	4	..	16	288	3	6	16	..
	— Potter	3	..	12	180	3	5	16	..
	— Church	3	..	12	216	3	6	15	..
Paddington.	— Curmock	3	..	12	936	6	13	18	..
	— Tame	6	..	18	432	3	8	18	..
	— Humphries	6	..	18	702	3	13	16	..
	— Nicolls	3	..	12	268	3	13	18	..
Hampstead.	— Seal & Jackson	2	..	6	936	6	26	20	..
	— Kirtland	1	..	3	468	6	26	20	..
	— Hingston	1	..	3	117	3	13	20	..
	— Batterbury	1	..	3	117	3	13	20	..
St. Pancras.	— Smith	2	..	8	384	4	12	18	..
	— Perkins	8	..	24	1872	6	13	18	..
	— Reddin	6	..	24	2304	6	16	18	..
	— Jay	6	..	24	2304	6	16	18	..
	— M. Rose	3	..	12	468	3	13	18	..
Islington.	— Eldred	4	..	20	1920	6	16	16	..
	— Croot	3	..	12	936	6	13	16	..
	— Speller	2	..	8	288	6	6	16	..
	— J. Rose	5	..	20	1560	6	13	16	..
Hackney.	— Piper	3	..	9	702	6	13	18	..
	— Rumball	6	..	18	2808	6	26	18	..
	— Booth	5	..	15	1170	6	13	18	..
St. Giles’s.	— Duggan	3	..	12	936	6	13	16	..
	— Freeman	4	..	16	624	3	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	2	..	8	768	6	16	18	..
	— Wall	2	..	8	288	6	6	19	..
	— Mildwater	2	..	6	180	6	5	18	..
St. Giles’s Improvements.	— Reddin	10	..	50	3900	6	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	10	..	50	3900	6	13	18	..
	— North	3	..	12	432	6	6	18	..
	— Nicolls	5	..	20	1560	6	13	18	..
Strand.	— Piper	4	..	16	384	6	4	18	..
	— Reddin	5	..	20	480	6	4	18	..
	— Ellis	3	..	12	180	3	5	18	..
	— Cooper	3	..	12	108	3	3	18	..
Holborn.	— Lovell	2	..	8	312	3	13	18	..
	— M’Carthy	6	..	24	1872	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	3	..	12	468	3	13	18	..
	— Ellis	3	..	12	324	3	9	18	..
Holborn and New Oxford-street Improvements.	— Reddin	20	..	80	6240	6	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	10	..	40	3120	6	13	18	..
	— Nicolls	5	..	20	480	3	8	18	..
	— Ellis	6	..	24	936	3	13	18	..
	— T. Brown	3	..	12	624	4	13	18	..
Clerkenwell.	— Wood	4	..	16	576	6	6	18	..
	— Johnstone	3	..	15	360	6	4	17	..
	— Clarkson	6	..	24	432	6	3	16	..
	— North	3	..	12	144	3	4	18	..
	— J. Brown	2	..	6	180	6	5	18	..
St. Luke’s.	— Rhodes	5	..	20	500	5	5	18	..
	— Wood	5	..	20	360	3	6	18	..
	— Dodd	5	..	20	1200	6	10	16	..
	— Gould	10	..	30	2340	6	13	18	..
East London.	— Pratt & Sewell	3	..	9	351	3	13	18	..
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	234	3	13	18	..
	— Crook	2	..	6	234	3	13	18	..
	— Abbott	2	..	8	384	6	8	18	..
Poplar.	— Pine	3	..	12	324	3	9	18	..
	— Monk	3	..	12	780	5	13	18	..
	— Tingey	2	..	8	240	3	10	18	..
	— Gabriel	4	..	16	624	3	13	18	..
	— Jones	3	..	12	192	4	4	18	..
St. George’s,	— Reddin	10	..	40	3120	6	13	18	..
	— G. Whitten	2	..	10	780	6	13	18	..
St. Olave’s,	— Webbon	3	..	12	936	6	13	18	..
	— Reddin	10	..	40	3120	6	13	18	..
St. Saviour’s, Southwark.	— Bugbee	2	..	6	72	3	4	18	..
	— Ryder	2	..	6	72	3	4	18	..
	— Wright	1	..	3	36	3	4	18	..
Bermondsey.	— Peake	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Duckett	12	..	36	5616	6	26	18	..
	— Elworthy	8	..	24	3744	6	26	18	..
	— Slee	5	..	20	3120	6	26	18	..
	— Adams	4	2	20	4680	6	39	18	18
Newington.	— Gutteris	3	..	9	270	6	5	18	..
	— Crawley	2	..	8	256	4	8	18	..
	— Martainbody	6	..	24	960	4	10	18	..
Wandsworth.	— Nicholson	5	..	15	1170	6	13	17	..
	— Mears	3	..	6	468	6	13	17	..
	— Parsons	4	..	16	864	6	9	17	..
	— Easton	3	..	15	720	6	8	17	..
Lambeth.	— J. Whitton	10	..	40	2080	4	13	19	..
	— G. Whitton	8	..	24	1248	4	13	19	..
	— Kenning	2	..	10	390	3	13	18	..
Camberwell.	— Hook	6	..	18	540	3	10	18	..
	— Michel	2	..	8	384	6	8	18	..
	— Marsland	2	..	8	128	4	4	18	..
	— Walton	2	..	6	144	4	6	18	..
	— Evans	1	..	3	90	6	5	18	..
Rotherhithe.	— Walker	10	..	30	3240	6	18	15	..
	— Brown	8	..	24	936	3	13	18	..
	— Hobman	2	..	36	1404	3	13	18	..
	— East	6	..	18	702	3	13	18	..
	— Stevens	5	..	20	1560	6	13	15	..
Greenwich.	— Jeffry	2	..	10	600	6	10	15	..
	— Turtle	5	..	15	720	6	8	14	..
	— Hiscock	2	..	6	432	6	12	17	..
	— Allen	2	..	10	780	6	13	12	..
Woolwich.	— Connall	5	..	10	1560	6	26	16	..
	— Waller	3	..	6	468	6	13	15	..
	— Miller	6	..	12	936	6	13	15	..
	— Fuller	8	..	16	960	6	10	15	..
	— Barnes	4	..	12	648	6	9	15	..
	— Sharpe	12	..	36	1404	3	13	15	..
	— Taylor	8	..	24	2016	6	14	15	..
	— Ginno	5	..	20	780	3	13	15	..
	— Millard	4	..	10	390	3	13	15	..
	— Graham	3	..	9	270	3	10	15	..
Lewisham.	— Peakes	5	..	15	810	6	9	15	..
	— Wellard	3	..	12	936	6	13	15	..
	— Fleckell	6	..	18	1404	6	13	15	..
	— Hollis	4	..	12	288	3	8	15	..
Total		840	15	3134	259831

Master Rubbish Carters.		No. of Operative Rubbish-Carting.	No. of Shovellers working in Gangs.	Quantity of Rubbish carted Daily.	Quantity of Rubbish carted Annually.
				lds.	loads.
Kensington.	Mr. J. Bird	5	..	15	2340
	— Hough	3	..	9	1404
	— Dubbins	3	..	9	1404
	— Taylor	3	..	12	1872
	— Gale	3	..	12	1872
	— G. Bird	10	..	20	3120
Chelsea.	— Nicholls	10	..	20	3120
	— Emmerson	5	..	15	2340
	— Freeman	5	..	15	2340
	— Pattison	2	..	6	936
	— Porter	6	..	18	2808
St. George’s, Hanover-sq.	— Rawlins	4	..	16	1248
	— Wells	2	..	8	624
	— Watkins	5	..	15	1170
	— Liddiard	5	..	15	1170
Westminster.	— Farmer	4	..	16	1920
	— Bugbee	6	4	30	2340
	— Reddin	6	4	30	2340
	— Francis	5	..	20	3120
Westminster Improvements.	— Chadwick	3	..	15	2340
	— Francis	5	..	20	3120
	— Farmer	5	..	20	3120
	— Duggan	8	..	40	6240
St. Martin’s.	— T. Cooper	3	3	24	1872
	— Wall	2	2	16	1248
	— Duggan	4	..	16	1248
St. James’s, Westminster.	— Nicolls	5	..	20	1560
	— Wells	2	..	8	624
	— Watkins	5	..	15	810
Mary-le-bone.	— Freeman	3	..	12	2808
	— Curmock	4	..	16	2496
	— Nicolls	8	..	24	1872
	— Watkins	10	..	40	4160
	— Perkins	5	..	20	3120
	— Culverwell	5	..	20	3120
West London.	— Rutty	3	..	12	360
	— Kitchener	3	..	15	360
	— Wickham	3	..	12	240
	— Porter	4	..	16	864
West London Improvements.	— Crook	3	..	6	468
	— M’Carthy	6	..	30	4680
	— Reddin	5	..	25	3900
	— Rooke	6	..	30	4680
	— Bugbee	5	..	25	3900
	— Chadwick	5	..	25	3900
London City.	— Bateman	3	..	12	288
	— Tame	4	..	12	216
	— Walker	2	..	8	144
	— Harmadu	3	..	9	216
	— Bindy	2	..	6	72
London City Improvements.	— Duggan	10	..	50	7800
	— Bugbee	20	..	100	15600
	— Gould	10	..	50	7800
Shoreditch.	— Booth	5	..	20	360
	— Styles	2	..	8	96
	— Wood	5	..	20	780
	— Gould	5	..	20	1560
Bethnal Green.	— Calvert	2	..	8	240
	— Newman	2	..	6	234
	— Rooke	4	..	16	624
	— Tilley	3	..	12	936
Whitechapel.	— Newman	3	..	9	216
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	234
	— Abbott	2	..	6	90
St. George’s in the East.	— Clarke	6	..	18	360
	— Calvert	4	..	16	192
	— Newman	3	..	12	216
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	108
Stepney.	— Abbott	6	..	18	432
	— Newman	4	..	16	288
	— Potter	3	..	12	180
	— Church	3	..	12	216
Paddington.	— Curmock	3	..	12	936
	— Tame	6	..	18	432
	— Humphries	6	..	18	702
	— Nicolls	3	..	12	268
Hampstead.	— Seal & Jackson	2	..	6	936
	— Kirtland	1	..	3	468
	— Hingston	1	..	3	117
	— Batterbury	1	..	3	117
St. Pancras.	— Smith	2	..	8	384
	— Perkins	8	..	24	1872
	— Reddin	6	..	24	2304
	— Jay	6	..	24	2304
	— M. Rose	3	..	12	468
Islington.	— Eldred	4	..	20	1920
	— Croot	3	..	12	936
	— Speller	2	..	8	288
	— J. Rose	5	..	20	1560
Hackney.	— Piper	3	..	9	702
	— Rumball	6	..	18	2808
	— Booth	5	..	15	1170
St. Giles’s.	— Duggan	3	..	12	936
	— Freeman	4	..	16	624
	— Bugbee	2	..	8	768
	— Wall	2	..	8	288
	— Mildwater	2	..	6	180
St. Giles’s Improvements.	— Reddin	10	..	50	3900
	— Bugbee	10	..	50	3900
	— North	3	..	12	432
	— Nicolls	5	..	20	1560
Strand.	— Piper	4	..	16	384
	— Reddin	5	..	20	480
	— Ellis	3	..	12	180
	— Cooper	3	..	12	108
Holborn.	— Lovell	2	..	8	312
	— M’Carthy	6	..	24	1872
	— Wells	3	..	12	468
	— Ellis	3	..	12	324
Holborn and New Oxford-street Improvements.	— Reddin	20	..	80	6240
	— Bugbee	10	..	40	3120
	— Nicolls	5	..	20	480
	— Ellis	6	..	24	936
	— T. Brown	3	..	12	624
Clerkenwell.	— Wood	4	..	16	576
	— Johnstone	3	..	15	360
	— Clarkson	6	..	24	432
	— North	3	..	12	144
	— J. Brown	2	..	6	180
St. Luke’s.	— Rhodes	5	..	20	500
	— Wood	5	..	20	360
	— Dodd	5	..	20	1200
	— Gould	10	..	30	2340
East London.	— Pratt & Sewell	3	..	9	351
	— Tomkins	2	..	6	234
	— Crook	2	..	6	234
	— Abbott	2	..	8	384
Poplar.	— Pine	3	..	12	324
	— Monk	3	..	12	780
	— Tingey	2	..	8	240
	— Gabriel	4	..	16	624
	— Jones	3	..	12	192
St. George’s,	— Reddin	10	..	40	3120
	— G. Whitten	2	..	10	780
St. Olave’s,	— Webbon	3	..	12	936
	— Reddin	10	..	40	3120
St. Saviour’s, Southwark.	— Bugbee	2	..	6	72
	— Ryder	2	..	6	72
	— Wright	1	..	3	36
Bermondsey.	— Peake	5	..	20	3120
	— Duckett	12	..	36	5616
	— Elworthy	8	..	24	3744
	— Slee	5	..	20	3120
	— Adams	4	2	20	4680
Newington.	— Gutteris	3	..	9	270
	— Crawley	2	..	8	256
	— Martainbody	6	..	24	960
Wandsworth.	— Nicholson	5	..	15	1170
	— Mears	3	..	6	468
	— Parsons	4	..	16	864
	— Easton	3	..	15	720
Lambeth.	— J. Whitton	10	..	40	2080
	— G. Whitton	8	..	24	1248
	— Kenning	2	..	10	390
Camberwell.	— Hook	6	..	18	540
	— Michel	2	..	8	384
	— Marsland	2	..	8	128
	— Walton	2	..	6	144
	— Evans	1	..	3	90
Rotherhithe.	— Walker	10	..	30	3240
	— Brown	8	..	24	936
	— Hobman	2	..	36	1404
	— East	6	..	18	702
	— Stevens	5	..	20	1560
Greenwich.	— Jeffry	2	..	10	600
	— Turtle	5	..	15	720
	— Hiscock	2	..	6	432
	— Allen	2	..	10	780
Woolwich.	— Connall	5	..	10	1560
	— Waller	3	..	6	468
	— Miller	6	..	12	936
	— Fuller	8	..	16	960
	— Barnes	4	..	12	648
	— Sharpe	12	..	36	1404
	— Taylor	8	..	24	2016
	— Ginno	5	..	20	780
	— Millard	4	..	10	390
	— Graham	3	..	9	270
Lewisham.	— Peakes	5	..	15	810
	— Wellard	3	..	12	936
	— Fleckell	6	..	18	1404
	— Hollis	4	..	12	288
Total		840	15	3134	259831

Master Rubbish Carters.		No. of days in the week each Operative is employed at Rubbish-Carting.	No. of weeks during the year each Operative is engaged in Removing Rubbish.	Weekly Wages of Rubbish-Carters.	Weekly Wages of the Operatives working in Gangs at Rubbish-Carting.
				s.	s.
Kensington.	Mr. J. Bird	6	26	18	..
	— Hough	6	26	18	..
	— Dubbins	6	26	18	..
	— Taylor	6	26	18	..
	— Gale	6	26	18	..
	— G. Bird	6	26	18	..
Chelsea.	— Nicholls	6	26	18	..
	— Emmerson	6	26	18	..
	— Freeman	6	26	18	..
	— Pattison	6	26	18	..
	— Porter	6	26	18	..
St. George’s, Hanover-sq.	— Rawlins	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	6	13	18	..
	— Watkins	6	13	18	..
	— Liddiard	6	13	18	..
Westminster.	— Farmer	6	20	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	13	18	18
	— Reddin	6	13	18	18
	— Francis	6	26	18	..
Westminster Improvements.	— Chadwick	6	26	18	..
	— Francis	6	26	18	..
	— Farmer	6	26	18	..
	— Duggan	6	26	18	..
St. Martin’s.	— T. Cooper	6	13	18	20
	— Wall	6	13	18	20
	— Duggan	6	13	18	..
St. James’s, Westminster.	— Nicolls	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	6	13	18	..
	— Watkins	6	9	18	..
Mary-le-bone.	— Freeman	6	39	18	..
	— Curmock	6	26	18	..
	— Nicolls	3	26	18	..
	— Watkins	4	26	18	..
	— Perkins	6	26	18	..
	— Culverwell	6	26	18	..
West London.	— Rutty	5	6	18	..
	— Kitchener	6	4	18	..
	— Wickham	5	4	18	..
	— Porter	6	9	18	..
West London Improvements.	— Crook	6	13	18	..
	— M’Carthy	6	26	20	..
	— Reddin	6	26	18	..
	— Rooke	6	26	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	26	18	..
	— Chadwick	6	26	18	..
London City.	— Bateman	6	4	18	..
	— Tame	6	3	18	..
	— Walker	6	3	18	..
	— Harmadu	6	4	18	..
	— Bindy	3	4	18	..
London City Improvements.	— Duggan	6	26	16	..
	— Bugbee	6	26	18	..
	— Gould	6	26	18	..
Shoreditch.	— Booth	3	6	18	..
	— Styles	3	4	18	..
	— Wood	3	13	18	..
	— Gould	6	13	18	..
Bethnal Green.	— Calvert	3	10	15	..
	— Newman	3	13	16	..
	— Rooke	3	13	18	..
	— Tilley	6	13	18	..
Whitechapel.	— Newman	3	8	16	..
	— Tomkins	3	13	18	..
	— Abbott	3	5	18	..
St. George’s in the East.	— Clarke	4	5	16	..
	— Calvert	3	4	15	..
	— Newman	3	6	16	..
	— Tomkins	3	6	18	..
Stepney.	— Abbott	3	8	18	..
	— Newman	3	6	16	..
	— Potter	3	5	16	..
	— Church	3	6	15	..
Paddington.	— Curmock	6	13	18	..
	— Tame	3	8	18	..
	— Humphries	3	13	16	..
	— Nicolls	3	13	18	..
Hampstead.	— Seal & Jackson	6	26	20	..
	— Kirtland	6	26	20	..
	— Hingston	3	13	20	..
	— Batterbury	3	13	20	..
St. Pancras.	— Smith	4	12	18	..
	— Perkins	6	13	18	..
	— Reddin	6	16	18	..
	— Jay	6	16	18	..
	— M. Rose	3	13	18	..
Islington.	— Eldred	6	16	16	..
	— Croot	6	13	16	..
	— Speller	6	6	16	..
	— J. Rose	6	13	16	..
Hackney.	— Piper	6	13	18	..
	— Rumball	6	26	18	..
	— Booth	6	13	18	..
St. Giles’s.	— Duggan	6	13	16	..
	— Freeman	3	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	16	18	..
	— Wall	6	6	19	..
	— Mildwater	6	5	18	..
St. Giles’s Improvements.	— Reddin	6	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	13	18	..
	— North	6	6	18	..
	— Nicolls	6	13	18	..
Strand.	— Piper	6	4	18	..
	— Reddin	6	4	18	..
	— Ellis	3	5	18	..
	— Cooper	3	3	18	..
Holborn.	— Lovell	3	13	18	..
	— M’Carthy	6	13	18	..
	— Wells	3	13	18	..
	— Ellis	3	9	18	..
Holborn and New Oxford-street Improvements.	— Reddin	6	13	18	..
	— Bugbee	6	13	18	..
	— Nicolls	3	8	18	..
	— Ellis	3	13	18	..
	— T. Brown	4	13	18	..
Clerkenwell.	— Wood	6	6	18	..
	— Johnstone	6	4	17	..
	— Clarkson	6	3	16	..
	— North	3	4	18	..
	— J. Brown	6	5	18	..
St. Luke’s.	— Rhodes	5	5	18	..
	— Wood	3	6	18	..
	— Dodd	6	10	16	..
	— Gould	6	13	18	..
East London.	— Pratt & Sewell	3	13	18	..
	— Tomkins	3	13	18	..
	— Crook	3	13	18	..
	— Abbott	6	8	18	..
Poplar.	— Pine	3	9	18	..
	— Monk	5	13	18	..
	— Tingey	3	10	18	..
	— Gabriel	3	13	18	..
	— Jones	4	4	18	..
St. George’s,	— Reddin	6	13	18	..
	— G. Whitten	6	13	18	..
St. Olave’s,	— Webbon	6	13	18	..
	— Reddin	6	13	18	..
St. Saviour’s, Southwark.	— Bugbee	3	4	18	..
	— Ryder	3	4	18	..
	— Wright	3	4	18	..
Bermondsey.	— Peake	6	26	18	..
	— Duckett	6	26	18	..
	— Elworthy	6	26	18	..
	— Slee	6	26	18	..
	— Adams	6	39	18	18
Newington.	— Gutteris	6	5	18	..
	— Crawley	4	8	18	..
	— Martainbody	4	10	18	..
Wandsworth.	— Nicholson	6	13	17	..
	— Mears	6	13	17	..
	— Parsons	6	9	17	..
	— Easton	6	8	17	..
Lambeth.	— J. Whitton	4	13	19	..
	— G. Whitton	4	13	19	..
	— Kenning	3	13	18	..
Camberwell.	— Hook	3	10	18	..
	— Michel	6	8	18	..
	— Marsland	4	4	18	..
	— Walton	4	6	18	..
	— Evans	6	5	18	..
Rotherhithe.	— Walker	6	18	15	..
	— Brown	3	13	18	..
	— Hobman	3	13	18	..
	— East	3	13	18	..
	— Stevens	6	13	15	..
Greenwich.	— Jeffry	6	10	15	..
	— Turtle	6	8	14	..
	— Hiscock	6	12	17	..
	— Allen	6	13	12	..
Woolwich.	— Connall	6	26	16	..
	— Waller	6	13	15	..
	— Miller	6	13	15	..
	— Fuller	6	10	15	..
	— Barnes	6	9	15	..
	— Sharpe	3	13	15	..
	— Taylor	6	14	15	..
	— Ginno	3	13	15	..
	— Millard	3	13	15	..
	— Graham	3	10	15	..
Lewisham.	— Peakes	6	9	15	..
	— Wellard	6	13	15	..
	— Fleckell	6	13	15	..
	— Hollis	3	8	15	..

The rubbish-carters are paid by week, 18s. to 20s. being the weekly amount; and by the load, which is indeed piece-work. The payment to the operatives by the load varies from 6d. to 1s. 6d., for it is necessarily regulated by the distance to be traversed. If the rubbish have to be carted a mile to its destination—or, as the men call it, to “the shoot”—of course it is to be so conveyed at a proportionally lower rate than if it had to be driven two or three miles. The employment of men by the load, however, becomes less every year, and the reason, I am assured, is this:—The great stress of the labour falls upon the horse. If the animal be strong and manageable, a man, for the sake of conveying an extra load a day, might overtax its powers, injure it gradually, and deteriorate its strength and its value. The operative carters, on their part, have complained that sometimes even “good” employers have set them to work by the load with “hard old horses,” which no management could get out of their slow, long-accustomed pace. Thus a man might clear by the piece-work but 1s. 6d. a day, with a horse not worth 15l.; while another carter, with a superior animal worth twice as much, might clear 3s. or 3s. 6d. Some “hard” masters, I was informed, liked these old horses, because they were bought cheap, and though they brought in less than superior animals they were easier kept; while if less were earned by the piece-work with such horses, less was paid in wages; and if the horse broke its leg, or was killed, or injured, it was more easily replaced. This mode of employment is, as I have said, less and less carried into effect; but it is still one of the ways in which a working carter may be made a sufferer, because a principal accessary of his work—the horse—may not be capable of the requisite exertion.

The nominal wages of the rubbish-carters in the best employ are from 18s. to 20s. a week; in the worse-paid trade 15s. is the more general price; but even as little as 12s. is given by some masters.

The actual wages are the same as the nominal in the honourable trade, with the addition of perquisites in beer to the men of from 1s. to 2s. weekly, and of “findings,” especially to the carmen, of an amount I could not ascertain, but perhaps realizing 6d. a week. One carman put all he found on one side to buy new year’s clothes for his children, and on new year’s eve last year he had 48s. 0½d., “money, and what brought money;” but this is far from an usual case.

The rate of wages paid to the operative rubbish-carters throughout the different districts of London, I find, by inquiries in each locality, to be by no means uniform. For instance, at Hampstead the wages are unexceptionally 20s. per week; while at Kensington, Chelsea, and indeed the whole of the west districts of London, they are 18s. weekly; in St. Martin’s parish, however, 19s. a week is paid by two masters. In the north districts again, 18s. a week is generally paid; with the exception of Hampstead, where the weekly wages for the same labour are as high as 20s., and Islington, where they are as low as 16s. In the central districts, too, the wages are generally 18s.; the lower rate of 17s. and 16s. per week being paid in certain places by “cutting” and “grasping” individuals, who form isolated exceptions to the rule. In a certain portion of the eastern districts, such as Bethnal Green, St. George’s in the East, and Stepney, 16s. and 15s. a week appears to be the rule; while in Shoreditch and Poplar 18s. is paid by all the masters. The southern districts of the metropolis are equally irregular in their rates of wages. Lewisham pays as low as 15s., and Woolwich the same weekly sum, with one exception. Wandsworth, on the other hand, pays uniformly 17s.; while in Southwark, Bermondsey, Newington, and Camberwell, the wages paid by all are 18s. In Lambeth as much as 19s. is given by two masters out of three; whereas, in Greenwich one master pays 14s., and the other even as low as 12s. a week. When I come to treat of the lower-paid trade, I shall explain the causes of the above difference as regards wages.

The analysis of the facts I have collected on this subject is as follows:—Out of 180 masters, employing among them 840 men, there are—

						Wages per Week.
5	masters	employing	11	men, and	paying	20s.
5	„	„	30	„	„	19s.
127	„	„	605	„	„	18s.
6	„	„	20	„	„	17s.
16	„	„	70	„	„	16s.
19	„	„	97	„	„	15s.
1	„	„	5	„	„	14s.
1	„	„	2	„	„	12s.

Hence, three-fourths of the operatives may be said to receive 18s. weekly, and about one-sixth 16s.

The perquisites in this trade are more in beer than in money, nor are they derived from the employers, unless exceptionally. They are given to the rubbish-carters by the owners of the premises where they work, and may, in the best trade, amount, in beer or in money to buy beer, to from 1s. 6d. to 2s. weekly per man. The other perquisites are what is found in the digging of the rubbish for the carts, and in the shooting of it. As in other trades of a not dissimilar character, there appears to be no fixed rule as to “treasure trove.” One man told me that in digging or shovelling each man kept what he found; another said the men drank it. Anything found, however, when the cart is emptied is the perquisite of the carman. “It’s luck as is everything;” said one carman. “There was a mate of mine as hadn’t not no better work nor me, once found an old silver coin, like a bad half-crown, as a gen’lman he knowed gave him five good shillings for, and he found a silver spoon as fetched 1s. 9d., in one week, and that same week on the same ground I got nothing but five bad ha’pennies. I once worked in the City where the Sun office now is, just by the Hall of Commerce in Threadneedle-street, and something was found in the Hall as now is; it was a French church once; and an old gent gave us on the sly 1s. a day for beer, to show him or tell him of anything we turned up queer. We did show him things as we thought queer, and they looked queer, but he all’us said ‘Chi-ish,’ or ‘da-amn.’ From what I’ve heard him say to another old cove as sometimes was with him, they looked for something Roman Catholic.” My informant no doubt meant “Roman,” as in digging the foundations of the Hall of Commerce a tesselated Roman pavement was found at a great depth.

Among these workmen are no Trade Societies, no Benefit or Sick-Clubs, and, indeed, no measures whatever for the upholding of accustomed wages, or providing “for a rainy day,” unless individually. If a rubbish-carter be sick, the men in the same employ, whatever their number, 10 or 40, contribute on the Saturday evenings 6d. each, towards his support, until the patient’s convalescence. There are no Houses of Call.

The payment is in the master’s yard on the Saturday evening, and always in money. There are no drawbacks, unless for any period during the hours of regular labour, when a man may have been absent from his work. Fines there are none, except in large establishments among the carmen where many horses are kept, and then, if a man do not keep his regular stable-hours in the mornings, especially the Sunday mornings, he is fined 6d. These fines are spent by the carmen generally, and most frequently in beer.

The usual way of applying for work is to call at the yards or premises, or, more frequently, to take a round in the districts where it is known that buildings or excavations are being carried on, to inquire of the men if a hand be wanted. Sometimes a foreman may be there who has authority to “put on” new hands; if not, the applicant, with the prospect of an engagement in view, calls upon any party he may be directed to. Several men told me that when they were engaged nothing was said about character. The employers seem to be much influenced by the applicant’s appearance.

I must now give a brief description of the rubbish-carter, and the scene of his labours.

Any one who observes, and does not merely see, the labour of the rubbish-carter, will have been struck with the stolid indifference with which these men go about their work, however much the scene of their labours, from its historical associations, may interest the better informed. So it was when the rubbish carters were employed in removing the ruins of the old Houses of Parliament, and of that portion of the Tower which suffered from the ravages of the fire; and so it would be if they were directed to-morrow to commence the demolition and rubbish-carting of Westminster Abbey, the Temple Church, or St. Paul’s, even in their present integrity.

Sometimes the scene of the rubbish-carter’s industry presents what may be called a “piteous aspect.” This was not long ago the case in Cannon-street, City, and the adjacent courts and alleys; when the houses had been cleared of their furniture, the windows were removed (giving the house what may be styled a “blind” look); most of the doors had been taken away, as well as some of the floors. Large cyphers, scrawled in whitewash on the walls and woodwork, intimated the different “lots,” and all spoke of desertion; the only moving thing to be seen, perhaps, was some flapping paper, torn from the sides of a room and which fluttered in the wind.

A scene of exceeding bustle follows the apparent desolateness of the premises. When the whole has been disposed of to the several purchasers, the further and final work of demolition begins. Baskets filled with the old bricks are rapidly lowered by ropes and pulleys into the carts below, it being the carter’s business to empty them, and then up the empty baskets are drawn, as if by a single jerk. The sound of the hammer used in removing and separating the old bricks of the building, the less frequent sound of the pick-axe, the rumble of the stones and bricks into the cart, the noise of the pulleys, the shouts of the men aloft, crying “be-low there!” the half-articulate exclamations of the carters choked with dust, form a curious medley of noises. The atmosphere is usually a cloud of dust, which sticks to the men’s hair like powder. The premises are boarded round, and if adjoining a thoroughfare the boards are closely fitted, to prevent the curious and the loiterers obstructing the current of passengers. The work within is confined to the labourers; “no persons admitted except on business” seems a rule rigidly enforced. The only men inside who appear idle are the over-lookers, or surveyors. They stand with their hands in their breeches’ pockets; and a stranger to the business might account them uninterested spectators, but for the directions they occasionally give, now quietly, and now snappishly; while the Irishmen show an excessive degree of activity, the assumption of which never deceives an overlooker.

From twelve to one is the customary dinner-hour, and then all is quiet. On visiting some new buildings at Maida-hill, I found seven men, out of about 30, all fast asleep in the nooks and corners of the piles of bricks and rubbish, the day being fine. The others were eating their dinners at the public-houses or at their own homes.

In the progress of pulling down, the work of removal goes on very rapidly where a strong force is employed—the number varying from about twelve to 30 men. A four-storied house is often pulled down to its basement, and the contents of the walls, floors, &c., removed, in ten days or a fortnight.

As the work of demolition goes on, the rubbish-carter loads the cart with the old bricks, mortar, and refuse which the labourers have displaced. In some places, where a number of buildings is being removed at the same time, an inclined plane or road is formed by the rubbish-carters, up and down which the horses and vehicles can proceed. Until such means of carriage have been employed, the rubbish from the interior foundation is often shot in a mound within the premises, and carried off when the way has been formed, excepting such portion as may be retained for any purpose.

In hot weather, many of the rubbish-carters in the fair trade work in their shirts, a broad woollen belt being strapped round the waist, which, they say, supports “the small of the back” in their frequent bending and stooping. Some wear woollen night-caps at this work when there is much dust; and nearly all the men in the honourable trade wear the “strong men’s” half-boots, laced up in the front, as the best protectors of the feet from the intrusion of rubbish.

In the cold weather, the rubbish-carter’s working dress is usually a suit of strong drab-white fustian. The suit comprises a jacket with two large pockets. The cost of such a suit, new, at a slop-tailor’s, is from 28s. to 35s.; from a good shop, and of better materials, 40s. to 55s. Some prefer stout corduroy to fustian trowsers; and some work in short smock-frocks.

Having thus shown the nature of the work, the class of men employed, and the amount of remuneration, I proceed to describe the characteristics of the rubbish-carters employed by the honourable masters; I will then describe the state of the labourers who are casually rather than constantly employed; and finally speak of the condition and habits of the lower-paid workers under the cheap masters.

The Ability to Read and Write.—I think I heard of fewer instances of defective education among the rubbish-carters than among other classes of unskilled labourers. The number of men who could read and not write, I found computed at about one-half. It appears that the children of these men are very generally sent to school, which is certainly a healthful sign as to the desire of the parents to do justice to their offspring. As among other classes, I met with uneducated men who had exaggerated notions of the advantages of the capability of reading and writing, and men who possessed such capability representing it as a worthless acquirement.

The majority of the Rubbish-Carters in the honourable trade are, I am informed, really married men, and have families “born in lawful wedlock.” One decent and intelligent man, to whom I was referred, said (his wife being present and confirming his statement): “I don’t know how it is, sir, but they say one scabbed sheep will affect a flock.” “Oh! it’s dreadful,” said the wife; “but some way it seems to run in places. Now, we’ve lived among people much in our own way of life in Clerkenwell, and Pentonville, and Paddington. Well, we’ve reason to believe, that there wasn’t much living together unmarried in Clerkenwell or Pentonville, but a goodish deal in Paddington. I don’t know why, for they seemed to live one with another, just as men do with their wives. But if there’s daughters, sir, as is growing up and gets to know it, as they’re like enough to do, ain’t it a bad example? Yes, indeed,” said the wife, “and I’m told they call going together in that bad way—they ought all to be punished—without ever entering a church or chapel, getting ‘ready married.’” I inquired if they were not perhaps married quietly at the Registrar’s office? “O, that,” said Mrs. B——, “ain’t like being married at all. I would never have consented to such a way, but I’m pretty certain they don’t as much as do that. No, sir,” (in answer to another inquiry), “I hope, and think, it ain’t so bad among young couples as it was, but its bad enough as it is, God he knows.” The proportions of Wedlock and Concubinage I could not learn, for the woman, I was assured, always took the man’s name; and both man and woman, unless in their cups or their quarrels, declared they were man and wife, only there was no good in wasting money to get their “marriage lines” all for no use.

The Politics of the rubbish-carters are, I am assured by some of the best informed among them, of no fixity, or principle, or inclination whatever, as regards one-half of the entire body; and that the other half, whether ignorant or not, are Chartists, the Irish generally excepted; and they, I understood, as I had learned on previous occasions, had no political opinions, unless such as were entertained by their priests. Strong, rude, and ignorant as many of these carters are, I am told that few of them took part in any public manifestation of opinion, or in any disturbance, unless they were out of work. “I think I know them well,” one of their body said to me, “and as long as they have pretty middling of work, it’ll take a very great thing indeed to move ’em. If they was longish out of work and felt a pinch, very likely they’d be found ready for anything.”

With respect to Free Trade, I am told that these men sometimes discuss it, and formerly discussed it far more frequently among themselves, but that it was not above one in a dozen, and of the better sort only, who cared to talk about it either now or then. There seems no doubt that the majority, whether they understand its principles and working or not, are favourable to it; I may say, from all I could learn, that the great majority are. I heard of one rubbish-carter, formerly a small farmer, who left London for some other employment, in the spring, contending, and taking pains to enforce his conviction, that Free Trade would ruin the best interests of rubbish-carters, as year by year there would be more agricultural labourers resorting to the great towns to look for such work as rubbish-carting, for every farmer would employ more Irish labourers at his own terms, and even the 8s. a week, the extent of the earnings of the agricultural labourers in some parishes, would be undersold by the Irish. Last winter, he said, very many countrymen came to London, and would do so the next, and more and more every year, and so make labour cheaper.

As far as I could extend my inquiries and observations, this man’s arguments—although I cannot say I heard any one offer to controvert them—were not considered sound, nor his facts fully established. There were certainly great numbers of good hands out of employment last winter, and many new applicants for work; “but buildings,” I was told by a carman, “are of course always slacker carried on in the winter. Now, this year, so far (beginning of October), things seem to promise pretty well in our business, and so if it’s good this winter and was bad the last, why, as there’s the same Free Trade, it seems as if it had nothing to do with it. There’s not so much building going on now as there was a few years ago, but trade’s steadier, I think.”

Other rubbish-carters, in the best trade, said that they had found little difference for six or eight years, only as bread was cheaper or dearer; and, if Free Trade made bread cheap, no man ought to say a word against it, “no matter about anything else.” Of course I give these opinions as they came to me.

As to Food, these labourers, when in full work, generally live what they consider well; that is, they eat meat and have beer to their meals every day. Three of them told me that they could not say what their living cost separately, as they took all their meals at home with their families, their wives laying out the money. One couple had six children, and the husband said they cost him about 17s. a week in food, or about 2s. 6d. per head, reckoning a pint of beer a day for himself, and not including the youngest, which was an infant at the breast. The father earned 22s. weekly, and the eldest child, a boy, 3s. 6d. a week for carrying out and collecting the papers for a news’-agent. The wife could earn nothing, although an excellent washerwoman, the cares of her family occupying her whole time. She always had “the cold shivers,” she said, “if ever she thought of John’s being out of work, but he was a steady man, and had been pretty fortunate.” If these men were engaged on a job at any distance, they sometimes breakfasted before starting, or carried bread and butter with them, and eat it to a pint of coffee if near enough to a coffee-shop, but in some places they were not near enough. Their dinners they carried with them, generally cold meat and bread, in a basin covered with a plate, a handkerchief being tied round it so as to keep the plate firm and afford a hold to the bearer. “It’s not always, you see, sir,” said a rubbish-carter, “that there’s a butcher’s shop near enough to run to and buy a bit of steak and get it dressed at a tap-room fire, just for buying a pint of beer, and have a knife and fork, and a plate, and salt found you into the bargain, and pepper and mustard too, if you’ll give the girl or the man 1d. a week or so. But we’re glad to get a good cold dinner. O, as to beer, it would be a queer out-of-the-way place indeed where a landlord didn’t send out a man to a building with beer.” One single man, who told me he was only a small eater, gave me the following as his daily bill of fare, as he rarely took any meals at his lodgings:

	s.	d.
Half-quartern loaf	0	2¾
Butter	0	1
Coffee (twice a day)	0	3
Eleven o’clock beer, sometimes a pint and sometimes half-a-pint, but often obtained as a perquisite (average)	0	1½
½ lb. of beef steak, or a chop, or four or five pennyworth of cold meat from a cook-shop (average)	0	5
Potatoes	0	1
Dinner beer	0	2
Bread and cheese and beer for supper	0	4
	1	8¼

This was the average cost of his daily food, while on Sundays he generally paid 1s. 6d. for breakfast and tea, and a good dinner off a hot joint with baked potatoes from the oven, along with the family and other lodgers. He had a good walk every Sunday morning, he said, but liked to sleep away the afternoon. He found his own Sunday beer, costing 4d. dinner and supper, but he didn’t eat anything at supper, as he wasn’t inclined after resting all day, and so his weekly expenses in food were:—

	s.	d.
Six working days, at 1s. 8¼d. a day	10	1½
Sunday	1	10
Week’s food	11	11½

To this, in the way of drink or luxuries, I might add, the carter said, 2d. a day for gin (although he wasn’t a drinker and was very seldom tipsy), “for I treat a friend to a quartern one day and may-be he stands treat the next.” Also 4d. for Sunday gin, as he and the other men took a glass just before dinner for an appetite, and he took one after dinner to send him asleep. Add, too, 3d. a week for tobacco. In all 1s. 7d., which swells the weekly cost of eating, drinking, and smoking to 13s. 6½d. His washing was 4d. a week (he washed his working jacket and trowsers himself), his rent 2s. 6d. for a bed to himself; so that, 16s. 4½d. being spent out of an earning of 18s., he had but 1s. 5½d. a week left for his clothes, shoes, &c. If he wanted a shilling or two for anything, he said, he knocked off his supper, and then nothing was allowed in his reckoning for perquisites, so he might be 2s. in hand, at least 2s., every week in a regular way of living. This man expressed his conviction that no man, who had to work hard, could live at smaller cost than he did. That numbers of men did so, he admitted, but he “couldn’t make it out.” The two ways of living which I have described may be taken as the modes prevalent among this class of labourers, who seek to live “comfortably.” Others who “rough it” live at less cost, dining, for instance, off a pennyworth of pudding and half a pint of beer.

I ascertained that among the rubbish-carters, those most frequently attendant on public worship are the Irish Roman Catholics, and such Englishmen as had been agricultural labourers in rural parishes, and had been reared in the habit of church-going; a habit in which, but not without many exceptions, they still persevere. Among London-bred labourers such habits are rarely formed.

The abodes of the better description of rubbish-carters are not generally in those localities which are crowded with the poor. They reside in the streets off the Edgeware and Harrow-roads, as building has been carried on to a very great extent in Westbourne, Maida-hill, &c.; in Portland-town, Camden-town, Somers-town, about King’s-cross; in Islington, Pentonville, and Clerkenwell; off the Commercial and Mile-end-roads; in Walworth, Camberwell, Kennington, and Newington; and, indeed, in all the quarters where building has been prosecuted on an extensive scale. I was in some of their apartments, and found them tidy and comfortable-looking: one was especially so. Some stone-fruit on the mantel-shelf shone as if newly painted, and the fender and fire-irons glittered from their brightness to the fire of the small grate. The husband, however, was in good earnings, and the wife cleared about 5s. weekly on superior needlework. There was one thing painful to observe—the contrast between the robust and sun-burnt look of the husband, and the delicate and pallid, not to say sickly, appearance of the wife. The rents for unfurnished apartments vary from 2s. to 5s., but rarely the latter, unless the wife take in a little washing. I heard of some at 2s., but very few; 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. are common prices.

I heard of no partiality for amusements among the rubbish-carters, beyond what my informant spoke of—a visit to the play. Some, I was told, but principally the younger men, never missed going to a fair, which was not too far off. I think not quite one-half of those I spoke to, with the best earnings, had been to the Exhibition. Of the worst paid, I am told, not one in 50 went; one man told me that he had no amusements but his pipe and his beer. Some of them, I was assured, drank half a gallon of beer in a day, but at intervals, so as not to be intoxicated. “A hand at cribbage” is a favourite public-house game among a few of these men; but not above one in half-a-dozen, I was assured, “knew the cards,” and not one in two dozen played them.

These, then, are the characteristics of the labouring rubbish-carters employed in the honourable trade.

A fine-looking man, upwards of six feet in stature and of proportionate bulk, with so smart a set to his bushy whiskers, and a look of such general tidiness (after he had left off work in the evening), that he might have been taken for a life-guardsman had it not been for a slight slouch of the shoulders, and a very unmilitary gait, gave me the following account:—

“I’m a London man,” he said, “and though I’m not yet 25, I’ve kept myself for the last five years. I’ve worked at rubbish-carting and general ground-work (digging for pipe-laying, &c.,) as we nearly all do, but mainly at rubbish-carting, and I’m at that now. My friends are in the same line, so I helped them: I was big enough, and was brought up that way. O, yes, I can read and write, but I haven’t time, or very seldom, to read anything but a newspaper now and again. I’m a carman now, and have a very good master. I’ve served him, more or less, for three years. I have had 25s. a week, and I have had 29s., but that included over-work. Two hours extra work a day makes an extra day in the week, you see, sir. O, yes, I might have saved money, and I’m trying to save 25l. now to see if I can’t raise a horse and cart, and begin for myself in a small way, general jobbing. I’ve been used to cart mould, and gravel, and turf for gentlemen’s gardens, or when gardens have been laid out in new buildings, as well as rubbish, for the same master. Last year I set to work in hard earnest in the same way, and this is where it is that always stops me. Mr. —— [his employer] is very busy now, and things look pretty well about here [Camden-town], but I don’t know how it is in other parts. It was the same last year, but trade fell off in the winter, and I was three months out of work. O, that’s a common case, especial with young men, for of course the old hands has the preference. That’s where it is, you see, sir; it’s a uncertain trade. It’s always that new shoes is wanted, but it ain’t always new houses. My money all went, and then all my things went to the pawn, and when I got fairly to work again, I had a shirt and a shilling left, and owed some little matters. I’d saved well on to 50s., and could have gone on saving, but for being thrown out. Then, when you get into regular wages again, there’s your uncle to meet, and there’s always something wanted—a pair of half-boots, or a new shirt, or a new tool, or something; so one loses heart about it, and I can’t abear not to appear respectable.

“I pay 2s. a week for my lodging, but it’s only for half a bed. The house is let out that way to single men like me, so each bed brings in 4s. a week. There’s two beds in the room where I sleep; I don’t know how many in all. Why, yes, it’s a respectable sort of a place, but I don’t much like it. There’s plenty such places; some’s decent and some’s not. Oh, certainly, a place of your own’s best, if it’s ever so humble, but it wouldn’t suit a man like me. I may work one week at Paddington, and the next at Bow, and if I had a furnished room at Paddington, what good would it be if I went to work at Bow? Only the bother and expense of removing my sticks again and again. O, people that find lodgings for such as me, know that well enough, and makes a prey of us, of course.

“I take my meals at a public-house or a coffee-shop. O yes, I live well enough. I have meat every day to dinner; a man like me must keep up his strength, and you can’t do that without good meat. It’s all nonsense about vegetables and all that, as if men’s stomachs were like cows’. I have bread and butter and tea or coffee for breakfast and tea, sometimes a few cresses with it just to sweeten the blood, which is the proper use of vegetables. A pint of beer or so for supper, but I don’t care about supper, though now and then I take a bit of bread and cheese with a nice fresh onion to it. Well, I’m sure I can’t say what I lay out in my living in a week; sometimes more and sometimes less. I keep no account; I pay my way as I go on. Some weeks when I get my Saturday night’s wage, I have from 2s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. left from last Saturday night’s money, but that’s only when I’ve had nothing to lay out beyond common. Now, last week I was 4s. 9d. to the good, and this week I shall be about the ditto; but then I want a waistcoat and a silk handkerchief for my neck for Sunday wear; so I must draw on my Saturday night. There’s a gentleman takes care of my money for me, and I carry him what I have over in a week, and he takes care of it for me. I did a good deal of work about his houses—he has a block of them—and his own place, and I’ve gardened for him; and from what I’ve heard, my money’s safer with him than with a Savings’ Bank. When I want to draw he likes to be satisfied what it’s for, and he’s lent me as much as 33s. in different sums, when I was hard up. He’s what I call a real gentleman. He says if I ever go to him tipsy to draw, and says it quite solemn like, he’ll take me by the scruff of the neck and kick me out; though [laughing] he can’t be much above five foot, and has gray hairs, and seems a feeble sort of a man, I mean of a gentleman. He enters all I pay in a book. Here it is, sir, for this year, if you’d like to see it. I wasn’t able to put anything by for a goodish bit. I lost my book once, but I knew how much, and so did Mr. ——, and he put it down in a lump.

		£	s.	d.
July 18	In hand	1	3	0
25	Received	0	3	6
Aug. 9	„	0	3	6
23	„	0	5	0
Sept. 13	„	0	9	6
20	„	0	4	0
27	„	0	4	0
		£2	12	6

“If I can’t save a little to start myself on when I’m a single man, I can’t ever after, I fancy; so I’m a trying.

“No, my expenses, over and above my living and lodging and washing, and all that, ain’t heavy. Yes, I’m very fond of a good play, very. Some galleries is 6d., and some 3d.; but then there’s refreshment and that, so it costs 1s. a time. Perhaps I go once a week, but only in autumn and winter, when nights get long, and we leave work at half-past five. The last time I was at the play was at the Marylebone, but there was some opera pieces that don’t suit me; such stuff and nonsense. I like something very lively, or else a deep tragedy. Sadler’s Wells is the place, sir. I mean to go there to-morrow night. Yes, I’m very fond of the pantomimes. Concerts I’ve been at, but don’t care for them. They’re as dear at 2d. as an egg a penny, and an egg’s only a bite.

“Well, I’ve gone to church sometimes, but a carman hasn’t time, for he has his horses to attend to on Sunday mornings, and that uses up his morning. No, I never go now. Work must be done. It ain’t my fault. I’m sure, if I could have my wish, I’d never do anything on a Sunday.

“Yes, there’s far too many as undersells us in work. I know that, but I don’t like to think about them or to talk about them.” [He seemed desirous to ignore the very existence of the scurf rubbish-carters.] “They’re Irish many of them. They’re often quarrelsome and blood-thirsty, but I know many decent men among the Irishmen in our gangs. There’s good and bad among them, as there is among the English. There’s very few of the Irish that are carmen; they haven’t been much used to horses.

“I have done a little as a nightman when I worked for Mr. ——. He was a parish contractor, and undertook such jobs, and liked to put strong men on to them. I didn’t like it. I can’t think it’s a healthy trade. I can’t say, but I heard it represented, that in this particular calling there was a great deal of under-contracting going on when the railway undertakings generally received a severe check, and when a great number of hands were thrown out of employment, and sought employment in rubbish-carting generally, and apart from railway-work. These hands suffered greatly for a long time. The tommy-shops and the middle-man system were enough to swallow the largest amount of railway wages, so that very few had saved money, and they were willing to work for very low wages. A good many of these people went to endeavour to find work at the large new docks being erected at Great Grimsby, near Boston, in Lincolnshire. Some of the more prudent were able to raise the means of emigrating, and from one cause or other the pressure of this surplus labour among rubbish-carters and excavators, as regards the metropolis, became relieved.”