LITTER ABOUT CITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 8

LITTER ABOUT CITY

SPECIAL OFFENDERS

RUBBISH FROM ROOMERS

"Roomers," of whom Wellington has very many, thanks to the seriousness of the housing position, were consistent offenders in scattering litter and rubbish about the" city, said the City Engineer (Mr. K. E. Luke) today. In the total effect of their scattering they added a lot of work and very largely undid the work of the men working in refuse collection and endeavouring ito keep streets clean and tidy. Because so many roomers lived in one and two rooms with the very minimum of facilities, the habit of walking out at night with the day's bundle of rubbish had become general, said Mr. Luke. There were a limited number of street refuse boxes about the inner city, for tins, packets, and scraps which otherwise would be thrown down by people walking by, but these small bins h"ad become community , bins for roomers, with>;the result that they filled to overflowing and late comers just dumped their rubbish, wrapped and unwrapped, on. the footpath. At any rate those who used the street bins made some misguided attempt to keep litter in its place, but far more dumped parcels and boxes of rubbish where it was most quickly out of their sight. Walls, gullies, and steps were popular with them. The cleaning up of the roadside along the Glasgow Street walling was a regular part of the work of men looking after Kelburn streets. Short-cut paths and steps might, from the roomer's point of view, have been set out for the one purpose of dumping rubbish, second only to the Hobson Street gully for ease of disposal. CANNOT BE EXCUSED, Even if every possible allowance was made for people who had to live in single rooms this nightly dumping of tins, paper, ashes, and all manner of rubbish could not be excused, said Mr. Luke. If it was not feasible for them to have refuse bins of their own—and admittedly when a dozen people lived in one converted dwelling that might not be possible—they should insist upon the owner or landlord providing adequate bins to serve his property; the onus was upon#him to do so. Of the still more deliberate offence of dumping large lots of refuse from cars and trucks at night there was not now so much as a few years ago, said Mr. Luke, but it still occurred and was responsible for a good deal of untidiness, particularly on outer suburban and seaside roads. Whatever the correctness of the comparisons made between the appearance of Wellington's with other city streets, no one who knew the. men who carried out the unpleasant and hard work of keeping streets ,and property clean would suggest that they were not solid, conscientious workers, said Mr. Luke. The very least that the people in whose interests they worked could do was to work with them, not deliberately against them.