THE CITY'S REFUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 225, 20 September 1913, Page 10

THE CITY'S REFUSE.

OVERWORKED DESTRUCTOR. * LOCAL BODIES IX A QUANDARY. At the last mating of the City Council it was announced that the big city ' destructor, in Freeman's Bay. was being overworked. It was also announced that the Council was handling the refuse of the-outside suburbs at a considerable loss, since the Council was only receiving 4/ per ton in payment, while the work was __tually costing 6/ per ton. Ihe Council thereupon decided that the local bodies _hoi_td be informed that the destructor was only capable cf dealing with city refuse, and that on and after December Ist the suburbs would have to devise ether means of disposing of their garbage. The methods of dealing with the city's ..tc-aste matter are really very interesting. -She big pile of Baiidiags opposite the Victoria Park main entrance gates are Working night and day, reducing to ashes the refuse of the city. An average of ..'. about 50 tons per day is brought iv by ihe collecting carts, each, of which is capable of carrying up to 2_ tons. The ".rubbish, is straightway tipped into huge hoppers, and from these is fed direct into the four great furnaces. Here it is continually raked to and fro by stokers, and, mixed with fine coal, the heterogeneous, mass is soon reduced to :either what, is .known as •"clinker" or to ashes. All manner of things go into the _ors-___tiori chamber, and sometimes tie workmen get unpleasant shocks. It has more than once happened that cartridges and explosive matter, foolishly thrown by some householder into the rubbish tin, lave got into the furnace, and there have been! tacky escapes from injnry by those tending the fires. Some of the material, such, as tins, will not burn, and it is suggested that it would pay the Council to put in a s__eltSirg furnace, in which the many tons of tins could be melted down, and turned to profit. As it is most of the material put through the destructor is converted to a very useful purpose, the white ask forming an excellent foundation for street and footpath formation. A staff of 30 men is engaged in disposing of the eity-'s refuse, and it is noteworthy that while the material with which the destructor deals is as a rule objectionable stuff, the works themselves are a ■model of cleanliness, and the men work under by no means unpleasant condition*. The -decision of the Council to refuse to -receive suburban refuse after December Ist will, no doubt, place the local bodies in something of a quandary. The figures for the past week serve to indicate the extent ."to which. the:_-estr_etor_.:is ".used. These show that firey Lynn sent in" 16 tons, Nesanarket 94 tons, Mount Albert 6£ tons, Eden Terrace Gi tons, and Remnera 4 tons of refuse. In addition there were 14 tons of trade refuse that was chargeable, and 27 tons that were free^-while during the week the city carts collected 213 tons, making a totaL collection for the week of about 304 tons. In burning this, 14 tons 11 ewt of coal was wsed, and 58,400 gals of water. Witb-neafly 50 "tons of refuse weekly to dispose of, the suburbs wUi have to de-" cide upon, some.new scheme of destruction. It has been suggested that they should join the Council in the cost of new furnaces at the city destructor, but when seen on the subject this morning, the chairman of the Local Bodies' Associatror- (M. AL J. Coyle) said that the matter was one which the association would have*to discuss. It seemed, Mr Coyle added, as though the suburbs would have to revert to the old tp system, tbouaii open tips would now be out of the question, and any scheme of the kind would have to provide for immediate Takino- iv and covering. With regard to the statement that the City Council is suffering a financial loss because the local bodies are not paying eriough, Mr Coyle points out that the suburbs are paying just what they were asked to pay. and have never bad a complaint from the Council that they were not paying enough.