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This amount may appear too trifling to offer any inducement to alter the present system, but we must not infer from the value of fuel lost as soot, that more complete combustion would not effect a greater economy than represented by £300; indeed, it has been shown that a very material saving is effected by the abolition of smoke. We must also add to this loss account a heavy domestic washing bill. A lady who formerly resided in Leeds, and has now a precisely similar establishment in the country (i.e., the same sized house and the same servants), has sent the following replies to a series of questions. She is a very careful housekeeper, and keeps strict accounts. She says that the quantity of soap used in cleaning a room is less than half of that used in Leeds, the labour of cleaning less than a quarter. Windows now require cleaning once a month; at least once a fortnight, and sometimes once a week, having been necessary in Leeds. White curtains now last eighteen months; in Leeds they were black in three weeks or a month. Generally speaking, white fabrics (toilet covers, counterpanes, etc.) last three times as long as formerly. The gilding of pictures remains free from discoloration, and silver plate and brass work keep wonderfully clean in the country; whereas two or three hours in Leeds, on some winter days, have been sufficient to spoil several hours' work of a parlourmaid. If three servants are required to do the work of a town house, two would do it easily in the country.[1]
And now I should like to explain how the quantity of soot that falls—it might be termed the daily soot-fall—is estimated. In January of 1892, when snow fell, and lay on the ground for several consecutive days, during clear and frosty weather, I determined the amount of solid matter in the snow lying in the Parish Church yard. A square yard of snow was removed daily from a fresh surface, i.e., from a
- ↑ It would be of interest to compare the cost of washing of the poorer population in town and country. "The Budgets" published by the Economic Club give statistics of this kind. But the variable standard of cleanliness, and the nature of the trade in both town and country, render any reliable comparison impossible. It may be of interest to know that in four working-class families, of Ancoats, Manchester, with incomes varying from 16 to 38 shillings a week, the weekly outlay for soap comes to 1d. per head.
