Street Cleansing and Maintenance Work at Sheffield.
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A REPORT of the highway and sewerage committee of the Sheffield City Council for the year ended March 31st last shows that the gross expenditure of the city surveyor's department in theyear was £504,094, a figure which is £34,262 higher than that for the previous year, although it does not differ greatly from the average expenditure incurred during the past few years, the cost for each year to the end of March for the past nine years being as fol
lows :-1920, £426,307; 1921, £555,417; 1922, £625,180; 1923, £536,631; 1924, 1531,618; 1925, £550,244; 1926, £520,829; 1927, 1529,882; 1928, £564,094,
The actual expenditure on highways was 178,032. The average cost per mile for highways work was less than for any year since the extension of the city's boundaries in 1901-2, except during the war period, but Kr. W. J. Hadfield, M.Inst.C.E., the city surveyor, says that the reduction should not be regarded es a permanent one. The reduction in expenditure under this heading has been
B38 made possible by the wide adoption of new methods and materials. First amongst them is the system of asphaltic surfacing, which, in Sheffield, has, for all practical purposes, superseded the use of granite setts and wood blocks. The city surveyor mentioned that asphalt laid in 1916 is still giving good service, and no street asphalted by the corporation has yet worn out.
In 1927-28 the mileage of highways reparable was 402.32 and of unadopted roads 108.64.
Under the heading of " Street Cleansing" we find that a sum of L5Z057 was expended during the past year, as against 01,873 in the previous year, the cost per mile being £129. An indication of the severity of last winter is shown by the fact that the cost of snow removal was £4,386, as against £418 in the previous year when, it wilt be remembered, the weather was unusually mild for the time of the year.
Comment is made in the report upon the fact that a Ministry -of Health table, comparing the cost of street cleansing in the large towns of this country during the year 1926-27, gives the cost for Sheffield at £100 per 1,000 of population, as against £121 for 79 centres set out in the table.
The department now has nine vacuum gully cleansers in use and they deal with between 9,000 and 10,000 gullies per week.