CITY SWEEPINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 158, 5 July 1921, Page 7

CITY SWEEPINGS.

WHERE THE RUBBISH GOES.

». VISIT TO THE DESTRUCTOR,

j GARBAGE TO CLEAN CLINKERS.

An Arab village could live comfortably! and wax fat on the food that'Aucklanders throw away every day. "When the "Sew Zcalanders were in Palestine many _ native fought with his com- j patriots for the privilege of browsing' on the camp leavings which were; sot always as appetising as the contents of the city dustcarts. No wonder the cost of living is high with some people! You have only to go down | ', to the big building in Freeman's Bay \ where the sweepings and the garbage of the city are transmuted into innocu- ; ous ashes and clinker, to realise the tremendous amount of waste that goes on from day to day in a place where life is easy, and the people have never really had to practice economy. Night i and day the tall chimney, which is a land mark for many streets around, belches forth its acrid looking smoke, ; which can easily be distinguished by its ' peculiar colour from, the contributions

of the mauy factory chimneys of the western side of the city. Night and day there are men tending the consuming fires which purge t;he unsavoury heaps of their grossness, and keep- the city sweet and clean, or rather sweeter and cleaner than if it had not such an efficient service for dealing with' the city's dust bin. No matter how easy it is made for some people to keep clean, there are always some who seem to prefer to have a litter and clutter about them, and always have a "glory hole" about the premises.

CONTINUOUS JOB. Anyone who has tried to burn a bit of rubbish in the backyard knows how hard it is to get the stuff to-light, and how very much harder it is to keep the thing from making such an appalling amount of smoke that it will raise the fire brigade and result in a fine of five shillings and costs for a breach of the by-laws regarding open-air fires. But the city destructor take 3 about forty tons every day into its capacious maw, and the amount of coal required to reduce this huge pile to ashes is comparatively negligible, only amounting to about a couple of tons a day. Except when the furnaces have to be cooled down for cleaning purposes the fires are never out. Although the staff keeps the Sabbath the fires are banked up. Forced draught has to be used in the destructor, and the necessity for this will be apparent when the incombustible nature of some rubbish is remembered. As the work is continuous the men have to work in eight hour shifts, and the duties are changed round so that a man starting with the morning shift goes on to afternoon shift and then on to night shift in turn.

The first act in the daily gathering of j the city's rubbish is the 4 a.m. feed i •which is given to tho fine teams of I draught horses used in the carts and wagons. Built on a plan common at Home, but not usual in the colonies, the city stables have upstairs and downstairs, and the horses on the upper floor reach their "bedrooms" by a concrete ramp with stone decking. The idea, of course, is to save space, and the civic stables are remarkably compact when it is known that over 80 horses are stabled. The whole range of buildings (alongside the destructor) is fireproof, and citizens who are interested in horseflesh may be satisfied that their animal— are well looked after, and have nothing to complain of under the careful management of Mr. H. Duffin and his staff.

A GOOD SERVICE. ] Seven o'clock is the hour the dust collecting carts actually get out from the yards, aDd they are practically at their useful but monotonous work all day. In the city proper it takes eleven carts to gather up the debris of everyday life. Queen Street has to be vacated by 9 a.m., and after that hour the carts do the side streets, and the various suburbs have their own horses. In the city the service is three times a week; • Parnell twice,- Grey Lynn and Eden Terrace once a week. All these send their "discards" to the city destructor. Remuera and Epsom have a weekly service and their cleanings up go to a special tip out in the suburbs, and are lot burned. A significant proof of the house shortt ige is to be found in the size of the iousehold rubbish tin. At many places svhere there was formerly one tin the iarts now have to empty two and someMines three, as so many families have to share their homes. Some people *aye rather odd ideas as to what constitutes rubbish. This morning for instance, there was a big tin bath in the day's catch. How they expected this to" go through the jaws of the fiery monster it is difficult to say.

One way and another there is quite a quantity of tins and tinware, and in some countries this would be turned to profitable account, but here in New Zealand there is neither the demand nor the plant for doing so. In the Old Country all the rubbish is picked over, and used in various ways, but there is no means of utilising such waste-pro-ducts in thi3 country, and the only thing chat can be turned into cash is. oddly enough, the ash which is used the City Council streets department for

making footpaths. THE GREAT OVENS. Shortly after eight o'clock the first cf the collecting carts come back to the destructor which is located on the triangle formed by Patteson Street and Drake' Street. There is a big difference between the levels of the two thoroughfares and advantage is taken of this to work on the gravitation system. The carts come in on the Drake Street entrance, dump their loads into the receiving bins, which are immediatelyover the furnaces, and by the time the incineration is complete the clinkers come out on the Patteson Street level. The "cooking apparatus" is simple, hut most effective. It consists of two enormous ovens. The real business of burning i.s done in the front half of the oven 3. The back half is directly under the receiving bins above, with a connection like a winze in a gold mine. Down this winze the feeders, armed with long rakes, pass the rubbish as It comes from the carts. A certain quantity is called a "charge" and this falling directly on to the back half of the oven, is thoroughly baked before it is raked over to the hotter front half where the process of frizzling up is completed. It naturally follows that the drier the ■rubbish the easier it is for the ovens to cope with their task. For dealing with condemned fruit a different course is adopted. Alongside the incinerator , there is another fiery chamber which is very nearly as hot as the former. Into this condemned fruit is dumped (including

boxes, as the insects have a habit of using the wood as host for their eggs) and when it is sufficiently cooked it is . passed on to the direct fire for the finishing touches. The forced draught • plays an important part in keeping the furnaces going. This is raised by means of a steam jet, and the steam is generated in two Babcock boilers heated 'by the act of burning the rubbish. By the time the fire has finished with

the garbage and refuse there is not

much left beyond the ashes and a proportion of clinker mixed with old tins. As mentioned before the ashes are used by the City Council for footpath making. The clinker is carted away for filling in gullies or anywhere else that wants reclaiming. CLEAN AND ORDERLY. To the ordinary ratepayer whose only connection with household rubbish is to lie reminded by his better half, just as he is nicely dressed for the office, "Don't forget to take the dust tin out to the gate this morning," the most salient feature about a visit to the destructor is the absence of anything objectionable in the cremation process. Everything is kept in excellent order by the energetic manager (Mr. W. Smith) and the men under his charge, and considering ; the unsavoury nature of the daily loads the place is remarkably free from anyI thing that offends the nose. j HELPING THE DUSTMAN.

As most people are aware the ratepayer has the privilege of sending his rubbish to the destructor by virtue of the rates he pays. Should anyone require the destruction of anything above the ordinary all he has to do is to send it along and for a few shillings per ton it is got rid of —as in the case of condemned or rotten fruit. It may interest householders who would like to make the unenviable lot of the dustman easier, to know that they can do so if they remember to keep the lid on the dust-bin. Nothing is so disagreeable to handle as wet rubbish, and in rainy weather lidless tins mean much inconvenience to these useful members of the city services. It also means that more coal is required to overcome the i wetness of the refuse, and more coal | eventually means more expense to the ■ ratepayer They should also put out | their tins regularly. >Some householders ! hang on to the dust-bin till it is full, j but it would be much more satisfactory iif they would make a point of putting lit out every time the dustman calls. Very complete records are kept at the destructor, every load of rubbish j that comes in has to pass over the ! weighbridge, every bit of coal is weighed, I every pound of rubbish that is sent in i iby private persons is weighed and re- | corded, and every carcase that is cremated is recorded. Talking about carcases reminds one that occasionally a ; horse finds a fiery end in Freeman's Bay, and the stray dog also makes his exit via the lethal chamber and then the furnace —such an entry as "dogs, seven cwt" being not uncommon in the monthly records.