THE KING'S PIPE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 215, 20 August 1931, Page 5

THE KING'S PIPE

Writing in the July issue of "The P.L.A. Monthly," Mr. A. G. Linney finds the "King's Pipe" at Royal Victoria Dock "a dingy spot without a shred of romance to it." He says: "The furnace which acts as the 'Pipe' is in an insignificant shed alongside one of the storage warehouses, and the explanation of the whole affair is this: On each floor of sheds where tobacco is 'worked' there is a big dirt and rubbish tub, and into it all" sweepings and scraps of tobacco, as well as odd ends of rope and wire, are thrown. Several times each week the filled tubs, watched over by a Customs' officer, who provides a certificate authorising the destruction' of the rubbish, are hoisted on to wheels and brought into the yards of the shed where the 'King's Pipe' (furnace) is. The contents of the tub are turned out on to the floor just by the kiln, and a workman shovels the stuff into the glowing furnace and lets it burn awy. Eventually the residue, ash and clinker and wire scraps, is released, and the man cleans out his kiln with a slicer or rake; and the residue is thrown into a truck standing on the railway line at hand. These final debris must be entirely useless, and I dare say end their visible existence down on the dumps Hornchurch Marsh way."