RUBBISH AND TIPS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 20, 18 October 1907, Page 5

RUBBISH AND TIPS.

THE SYSTEM IN WELLINGTON. A GOLDEN IDEA. When the City Council magnanimously raised, the wages of the Corporation rubbish collectors to 10s per day a little time ago, there were few who did not think that the unsavoury job was worth the money. It was and is worth 10,s a day, as tlio cost of living goes in Wellington. The "Rubbish O" man lives his day in an atmosphere composed of almost overs..disagreeable smell outside the chemist's laboratory. It is his duty to call regularly 011 hotels, restaurants, factories, and private residences to cart away the refuse. Ho must not be a person of delicate sensibilities—there is no- case 011 record of a poet, for instance, ever having mado a successful rubbish.Mian. Grimed to the roots of the hair 110 makes into the back-yard, seizes the rubbish receptacle, capsizes it into his basket, and trudges out with his load on his back, and spills it through the gaping doors of the rubbish-cart. "Rubbish O" is a necessity, not a more luxury. He is a man that is missed if ho fails to look in for over a week. If his visits are unduly infrequent, something in nature seems to call for him, and when after a lapse —and there is an- occasional hiatus in the rubbish man's calls —is lie frowned upon when lie docs appear? Not'iii the least do- 1 gree. He is a public benefactor; and as welcome as tlio (lowers in spring to the tidy mistress or conscientious maid, and is only thought hard of in his absence. When lie is leaving with his load, the housewife, if she be of Scottish descent, always feels like singing, " Will ye no' come back again?" . The Tipping Habit. The rubbish man is an important part: in the machine known as city sanitation. This is readily admitted by everyone. He is paid 10s. a day to remove the unrequired from the habitat of man to the .destructor furnaces, and he does it with more or less dispatch, with more or less regularity. , Of course 110110 can expect the collector to remove any quantity of rubbish from 0110 place, as some places produce'a greater quantity of .'refuse than others, and it wpuld be obviously unfair for those living farther along, as the.cart,can only carry a certain quantity. , Tlio prospects would be that if the 1 cart filled up lower down, the rubbish ,of those higher up : would have to wait out a day. So a limit is .placejd 011 the quantity each mail is. expected to r<y move from oacli place, an allowance being mado for the size and character of each riib-bish-produciiig entity. Beyond that., the rubbish-man—or the majority of him—will not budge— unless certain new conditions arise. It is not the intention of this articlo to make an accusation against the whole body corporate of rubbish-man, nor is the fact that "tips" aro given in return for'favours a very sorious mattor. One man is pleased to get rid of the extra accumulation at the prico of a piodest "tip." The only thing against* an abuse'of the system is that it might and does affcct the fellow higher up. He may also have extra rubbish, and maj; bo quite as eager to "tip," but the cart is bulging over already, and if he is watching out for it, there is the ovor-present chance of seeing it turn Clydo Quay-wards. Ah Idea. " .The destructor that nestles beside' the morgue at Clyde Quay is quite incapable ,of dealing with the city's refuse, and no better' system can bo evolved than, the present 0110 under existing conditions. But a splendid new destructor is being erected that is going to consumo all we as a city can givo it. Thi3 .lias given rise to an idea that should,bo' worth quito a lot of money to tho city— enough perhaps to check another rise in the ■rates noxt year, assuming that all the people that are so ready to "tip" the collector for .taking away over arid abovo a certain quantity of refuse, would pay tho same amount to the Corporation for tho samo:conocssion. Tlio rubbish-man, getting 10s a day, is quite adequately,' if not well, paid— ho is given that wage in order to bo independent of any otlieis source of income—arid we aro'Kll agreed, in theory anyhow, that tho "tippjfhg" habit pernicious 011 c. Though' the writer has "tipped" a rubbish marij'it is still pernicious, as ho is occupying spaco with his extra contribution to' the load that tho other fellow higher up should 1 have. With tlio; new destructor gobbling up tho garbage of the city, no difficulty will exist in its disposal, but still people' will have extra rubbish on occasions, and there is no reason why tlie Council should not receive the "tip" instead' of the 10s a day man. 1 That is a golden idea. , ■ , / What the tips mean. It isi known that some' of the mon mako quito a tidy addition to their salary in tho shillings that aro slipped' into their hands after they, have cleared a yard. Tho Corporation's system of collecting, refuse has completely knocked on the head tho with horse and cart, who in tho old days' used to announce by advertisement his preparedness to ■ remove rubbish with despatch. He is a something that was, and tho shillings that went his way now clink.in tho,pockets of the ten-sliillings-a-day man, who, othors ill lllio samo employ declared, is the best paid man in tho service, meaning among tlio-un-. skilled workers. In some of . tho fashionable, tourist-frequented hotels on the Continent waiters pay the proprietor for the privilege of working for him, knowing that they will'be more than recoriipensed• by the "tips they 1 will receivo during the season, but wo do not ; ask the rubbish-men for payment for the privilege of gathering our garbage—llo, . indeed, we give him 10s. a day. The above idea was suggested to tho City Engineer yesterday. He was immersed in.a sea of correspondence, reports, plans, etc., but lie listened patiently, and expressed his whole-souled approval of the scheme, which ho hoped city councillors would support when brought before them 011 the completion of the now destructor—in February next.