STREET-CLEANSING COSTS AT SHEFFIELD.
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The report of the highway and sewerage committee of the Sheffield City Conn-• vil for the year ended March 31st last shows that the gross expenditure of the department during the year 1925-1926 amounted to 1520,829, a fignre'whieh is £29,415 lower than the. amount for the previous year. The average annual expenditure of the department for the seven post-war years amounts to s535,175.
So far as highways are concerned, the actual expenditure was f91,844, whilst street cleansing a further £50,395 \vas expended. It is satisfactory to note that the cost per mile' for street cleansing, which was £127, was £4 less per mile as compared with the previous year.
Comment is made in the report on the faCt that street-cleansing costsare now almost down to the pre-war figure, and this is stated to be due chiefly to (1) improved methods, especially the introduction of mechanical appliances; and (2) improved surfaces, which produce ices mud and are easier to • clean.
Efforts have been made to find an efficient innehine capable not only of sweeping the streets, but also of picking up the sweepings, and at the end of the year under review three such -vehicles were in use. It is quite 'pos
sible that the employment of these machines will result. in some steam wagons hitherto used for removing street sweepings being dispensed with.
The department now has seven vacuum gully-emptiers in use, and they deal with 7,000 to 8,000 gullies per week. Comment is made on the fact that these machines do the work much more efficiently than under the old method of emptying the contents of the gully upon the street and then shovelling the refuse into carts or lorries.
The street-cleansing operations of the department were concerned in the past year with 397 miles of highway.