THE WASTE-PAPER PHOENIX.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Ste,---The enclosed paper will show the preparation made for the pyre in a sub-Metropolitan borough and urban district. The collections are being made by the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. They_ will, it is hoped, be supplemented for special classes of valuable refuse by the Salvation Army and volunteers. The scheme, you will observe, goes beyond the utilization of paper. Other descriptions of household waste are, for national purposes, more important, and there is a manifest economy of effort in employing one agency. Nor is this the limit of our aim. We shall use every incidental opportunity of interesting all classes of our local community by conversation, classes, and other unpretentious means, in the principles of patriotic thrift and self-denial, including such subjects as economic dietetics and cookery, cultivation of all available land, the release to the utmost of all' forms of domestic labour for National Service, abstention from personal indulgences which make undue demands on the work of others. We wish well to the " Food Control Campaign," which Lord Devonport is asking Local Authorities' to -undertake. But long experience of propagandist methods satisfies us that far more good is done by reliance on persistent quiet appeal to the individual intelligence and conscience than by extravagant
advertising display or even enthusiastic mass meetings.—I am,
Sir, &c., EICHARDSON EVANS.
The Heir, Wimbledon Common. S.W. 19.
" WIMBLEDON & MERTON PAPER SAVING ct WAR THRIFT CONFERENCE.
With the sanction and active sympatby of the Mayor of Wimbledon and the Chairman of the District Council of Merton and Morden, a Committee which includes the Scout-masters of the district, representatives of the Girl Guides, the chief officers of these bodies, and some residents who are personally concerned in the work, has organized a system for collecting regularly in every part of the district waste-paper and all other kinds of valuable refuse. Every householder can play a part in helping the nation, and, in particular, in coping with the Submarine menace, by saving every useful scrap and making them over to the Collectors when they call. By increasing the home supply, in this way, they will set free cargo space in merchant vessels for the importation of food and,other necessaries which must come from abroad. The money value of these things—which from the household point of view are mere refuse=is considerable, and the proceeds will be divided by the Committee among the various local War Funds; for example, the Red Cross, the Belgian Refugees, the War Workers' Depot, the Ridgway Papier Macho Splint Depot, the League of Mercy, for the support of Hospitals, the East Surrey Regiment Comforts Fund. The descriptions at present in request are waste-paper of all kinds, bottles of all kinds, jars, brass, copper, zinc, lead, and other metals, disused electric light bulbs (very valuable), leather, twice and cord. No sorting is necessary for these articles. The making of Papier Macke Splints—one of the greatest possible surgical comforts to our Wounded Soldiers—requires an endless supply of cardboard, in pieces not less than 18 inches in lengths, of sugar and other grocery bags made of thick and other. non-glossy paper, and of leather of any thickness, colour, and size. These articles ought to be kept apart with careful regard to absolute cleanliness and delivered if possible in paper-covered parcels. Fat, grease, and bones are much needed as a source of glycerine for the prepara- tion of explosives by the Munitions Department. Food scraps can be converted into feeding stuff for pigs and poultry. It is possible that a special plant may soon be installed here for this purpose. Clean rags and woven fabrics are also in demand. You will at once understand that these two kinds of refuse cannot be included in the general collection. But if you will kindly let me know if and when you have any to place at our disposal, arrangements can, I hope, be made to call for your stock without undue delay."
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