PAVEMENTS OF PARIS. Ar Army of Men and Women Temployed to clean Them.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 4

PAVEMENTS OF PARIS.

Ar Army of Men and Women Temployed to clean Them.

i Wooden pavements' arc' slowly taking the 'place of every other kind in Paris. On the list of January, 1884,, the .system had just been introduced, and was being jexperi-^ I monted with on a surface of 707,400 squaro feet ; by, the end; of the year, 2,832,056 .square feet of streets was paved in this way. Great as this rate of progress seems, it is not half fast enough, for thero still .remains 92,370,000 square feet of streets paved with. stone or macadam. With all their advantages of noiselessness and!cleanilinesss, wooden pavements have the* drawback of being very expensive, not only to .put down, but also to keep in repair. It: costs 92 1-5 cents the square metre-, while stone pavements do not cost* 'more than 15 4-5 the square metre. The streets are shaded by 78,860 trees, the sidewalks are •supplied with 8,334 benches where the tired may, rest their weary limbs, 'and' to keep/ the thoroughfares reasonably clean the city expends 21,890,000 franca annually. ' '-. • A large .pottion of this sum goes to .pay ' the 3,000 rnen'arid women who are employed! to, sweep the streets and gutters with birch brooms. The brigade of street-sweepers come from the provinces, but, Italy furnishes a strong contingent 1 to fche force. There are two classes of theso balayeurs and balayeuses— the auxiliaries and the regulars. The former arc paid from 6to 8 cents an hour, and are expected' to do ten hours' work a day, which is divided up 1 as' follows : From 4 to 11 a. m. and from Tto.4 p.m. ; but it often happens in bad weather that supplemental hdurs .of work have to bo performed, while on" tho other; hand in fair weather the days are cut dowu to halftime. The auxiliaries are recruited accords ing to the need of the service, and: many of them are men and ;women who have other trades in which, foxuthe-time. being, they are unable to find employment,, pfjate the city has made it a role 1 to offer five or six days' work as auxiliary baiuyeurs to the inmates of the night refuges, and in this way "a number of declasses— university graduates, professional .men, ex-Govem-* mentomployees, etc. — find their way into the streetrdeaning brigade. Few of these, however, remain in it permanently. The regti-' lars, who are known as cantonniere, are 1 ,eraplpy.ed, by the month, and no one is- apr pointed who is past the age of 45 ,yeftr,B.They receive, a fixed -salary •of 105 francs a. month,, and each gang is,»nder\the comjaiand of a chief, who is paid 120 irancs a month for his services as boss, ; The balayeurs are. dividedinto eight sections, and to .eachof them is ( assigned a section of the, city. , At intervals during^ : the day, :the< chief, assembles his gang.and caUsitaeroll inorder to assure himself that all ; are at their posts. Women, as /wellapjnaen, are employed to sweep, but few of them earnas much as 50 cents a day. „ $01: most parb thfe women who accept this employ mentar^ peasants from" the snvirons of Paris, and .they are , past middle life.' M! The, other ; day the balayeurs and, balay.ejus.es, held., a meeting and .resolVed.to organise a, trade syndicate witKa view to securing aninqreas? in,.tbejir pay,' ( iyhich'.the3f,, claim is not ..only Jqq small, liut'is.Valso ,too dependent on. the cuprice' of the, officials in,- charge of,, their, depaxtmehfc..'. j AB , ino(3ern,"citieß go, Pari3 r takes high rank for the cleanliness ofits streets. The gutters measure over 500. jmiles in length, jand^eY^ry«<mQi:oing water is turned into them and they are swept by hand, s • „ < , f ;. .., . , ;