第51章 TO THE RESCUE!--THE CITY COLONY.(11)

The whole would be collected,say once or twice a week,or more frequently,according to the season and circumstances,and transferred to depots as central as possible to the different districts.

At present much of this waste is thrown into the dust-bin,there to fester and breed disease.Then there are old newspapers,ragged books,old bottles,tins,canisters,etc.We all know what a number of articles there are which are not quite bad enough to be thrown into the dust heap,and yet are no good to us.We put them on one side,hoping that something may turn up,and as that something very seldom does turn up,there they remain.

Crippled musical instruments,for instance,old toys,broken-down perambulators,old clothes,all the things,in short,for which we have no more need,and for which there is no market within our reach,but which we feel it would be a sin and a shame to destroy.

When I get my Household Salvage Brigade properly organised,beginning,as I said,in some district where we should be likely to meet with most material,our uniformed collectors would call every other day or twice a week with their hand barrow or pony cart.As these men would be under strict discipline,and numbered,the householder would have a security against any abuse of which such regular callers might otherwise be the occasion.

At present the rag and bone man who drives a more or less precarious livelihood by intermittent visits,is looked upon askance by prudent housewives.They fear in many cases he takes the refuse in order to have the opportunity of finding something which may be worth while "picking up,"and should he be impudent or negligent there is no authority to whom they can appeal.Under our Brigade,each district would have its numbered officer,who would himself be subordinate to a superior officer,to whom any complaints could be made,and whose duty it would be to see that the officers under his command punctually performed their rounds and discharged their duties without offence.

Here let me disclaim any intention of interfering with the Little Sisters of the Poor,or any other persons,who collect the broken victuals of hotels and other establishments for charitable purposes.

My object is not to poach on my neighbour's domains,nor shall I ever be a party to any contentious quarrels for the control of this or that source of supply.All that is already utilised I regard as outside my sphere.The unoccupied wilderness of waste is a wide enough area for the operations of our Brigade.But it will be found in practice that there are no competing agencies.While the broken victuals of certain large hotels are regularly collected,the things before enumerated,and a number of others,are untouched because not sought after.

Of the immense extent to which Food is wasted few people have any notion except those who have made actual experiments.Some years ago,Lady Wolseley established a system of collection from house to house in Mayfair,in order to secure materials for a charitable kitchen which,in concert with Baroness Burdett-Coutts,she had started at Westminster.The amount of the food which she gathered was enormous.

Sometimes legs of mutton from which only one or two slices had been cut were thrown into the tub,where they waited for the arrival of the cart on its rounds.It is by no means an excessive estimate to assume that the waste of the kitchens of the West End would provide a sufficient sustenance for all the Out-of-Works who will be employed in our labour sheds at the industrial centres.All that it needs is collection,prompt,systematic,by disciplined men who can be relied upon to discharge their task with punctuality and civility,and whose failure in this duty can be directly brought to the attention of the controlling authority.

Of the utilisation of much of the food which is to be so collected Ishall speak hereafter,when I come to describe the second great division of my scheme,namely the Farm Colony.Much of the food collected by the Household Salvage Brigade would not be available for human consumption.In this the greatest care would be exercised,and the remainder would be dispatched,if possible,by barges down the river to the Farm Colony,where we shall meet it hereafter.