“The accumulations from these sources will not, I think, be over-estimated at two-thirds of the whole amount of deposit removed.
“The contracts in operation, February, 1849, with the districts which they embrace, are as follows:—
“Table No. I.
| Districts. | Sewers let for Prevention of Accumulations of Deposit. | Average Rate of Work performed in Sewers passed through each Week. | Contract Charge per Week. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lineal Feet. | Lineal Feet. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Westminster | 485,795 | 150,615 | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| Holborn & Finsbury | 355,085 | 118,000 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| Tower Hamlets | 223,738 | 30,000 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Surrey and Kent | 440,642 | 40,000 | 75 | 0 | 0 |
| Poplar | 26,000 | 2,000 | 6 | 16 | 0 |
| 1,531,260 | 340,615 | 159 | 16 | 0 | |
| Westminster—Attendance on Flaps, &c. | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| £163 | 16 | 0 | |||
“The weekly cost prior to the contract system was in the several districts as follows:—
“Table No. II.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| In the Westminster District | 78 | 10 | 0 |
| „ Holborn and Finsbury do. | 24 | 17 | 0 |
| „ Tower Hamlets do. | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| „ Surrey and Kent do. | 56 | 8 | 0 |
| „ Poplar do. | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| 189 | 8 | 0 |
Hence there would appear to have been a saving of 25l. 12s. effected. But by what means was this brought about? It is the old story, I regret to say—a reduction of the wages of the labouring men. But this, indeed, is the invariable effect of the contract system. The wages of the flushermen previous to Sept., 1848, were 24s. to 27s. a week; under the present system they are 21s. to 22s. Here is a reduction of 4s. per week per man, at the least; and as there were about 150 hands employed at this period, it follows that the gross weekly saving must have been equal to 30l., so that, according to the above account, there would have been about 5l. left for the contractors or middlemen. It is unworthy of gentlemen to make a parade of economy obtained by such ignoble means.
The engineers, however, speak of flushing as what is popularly understood as but “a make-shift”—as a system imperfect in itself, but advantageously resorted to because obviating the evils of a worse system still.