"84. Every person who shall construct an ashpit in connection with a building shall construct such ashpit of flagging, or of slate, or of good brickwork, at least nine inches thick, and rendered inside with good cement or properly asphalted.
"He shall construct such ashpit so that the floor thereof shall be at a height of not less than three inches above the surface of the ground adjoining such ashpit, and he shall cause such floor to be properly flagged or asphalted.
"He shall cause such ashpit to be properly roofed over and ventilated, and to be furnished with a suitable door in such a position and so constructed and fitted as to admit of the convenient removal of the contents of such ashpit, and to admit of being securely closed and fastened for the effectual prevention of the escape of any of the contents of such ashpit.
"85. A person who shall construct an ashpit in connexion with a building shall not cause or suffer any part of such ashpit to communicate with any drain."
There can be no doubt that the position of the dustbin or ashpit, as regards its site with reference to the main dwelling-house, is of primary sanitary importance, for if the garbage and domestic accumulations therein are allowed to remain for a few days, especially when the weather is close, damp, and warm, they become very offensive, and the emanations therefrom may even be highly deleterious and dangerous to health; this effect is aggravated by persons emptying vegetable refuse and other matters which are wet into the dustbin, as decomposition of these matters is greatly assisted by this addition, and it would be well that all such matters should be burnt on the kitchen or scullery fire along with a large percentage of the ashes which could be sifted and saved from those which too readily find their way into the dustbin, and are thus wasted. Care would of course have to be taken in this process that no smell or nuisance was caused by burning this refuse, but the greatest difficulty would arise in overcoming the time-honoured prejudices of the domestic servant who usually finds the dustbin or ashpit the most convenient and least troublesome place to dispose of nearly everything that to her may be entitled rubbish.
Now with all due respect to those who framed Section 35 of the Public Health Act of 1875, it is open to considerable doubt whether the fixed dustbin or ashpit, as it is there styled, is the best and most sanitary receptacle for the house refuse. They may be necessary and suitable for Public Institutions, or for large isolated private dwellings, or for schools or any places where excessive quantities of refuse may accumulate, but where this refuse is systematically and properly removed by the order of the local authority, at such times and in such manner as will be hereafter pointed out, a movable or portable dustbin, box, or basket, is far preferable to the large immoveable inconvenient fixed ashpit, recommended and enforced under the Act.
This portable dustbox should be of such dimensions that the men employed in removing the refuse could easily carry it out and empty its contents into the cart, and there is nothing to prevent more than one being provided, if it is found insufficient for the requirements of the household. The box should be made of iron, or wood or basket lined with tin, or some equally impervious material, so that it can easily be washed out and thoroughly cleansed and disinfected when found necessary to do so, a matter very difficult to accomplish with the fixed ashpit. The whole of its contents could be quickly emptied, which is more than can be easily effected with the fixed ashpit, and then only when very special arrangements are made for its drainage. The movable dustbox can, in addition to these advantages, be placed in any part of the premises, and may be covered or not as may be deemed desirable, and need not, like many of the existing ashpits, be fixed in such a position as to appear to have been thus placed for the express purpose of poisoning with its foul smell the whole of the inhabitants in its vicinity. The movable box can also be readily taken out to the scavenging cart by the householder himself, a very essential requisite, as will be shown in the next chapter.