§ 59. Sir H. BRITTAINasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many men are employed to remove the daily litter left by the crowds at the British Empire Exhibition; and whether he will invite suggestions as to further Regulations which would make it more difficult for the thoughtless to spoil the pleasure of the ever-increasing number of visitors?
§ 70. Lieut. - Colonel HOWARD - BURYasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether, in view of the continued untidiness of the British Empire Exhibition grounds from the litter of paper, orange peel, banana 1768 skins, and empty tins that are strewn about everywhere, he can cause notices to be put up at the entrances asking the public and the children to throw their rubbish into the occasional receptacles that are provided, which are already filled to overflowing; that he will provide many hundreds of extra receptacles and, through the Government Publicity Department, he will urge in the daily Press the importance of keeping the grounds tidy by making use of these receptacles; and whether he will arrange that park keepers are employed to see that the public carry out the instructions on the notice boards, and that incinerators are set up for the consumption of the waste materials that at present litter and disfigure the grounds and set a very bad example to the hundreds of thousands of children that are visiting the Exhibition?
§ Mr. LUNNI have been asked to reply to these questions. The British Empire Exhibition authorities assure me that they have been very much concerned with the difficulty of keeping the Exhibition grounds tidy. They have recently increased the staff of cleaners from 198 to 240, and the number of receptacles for rubbish from 1,100 to 1,850. Notices requesting the co-operation of the public are being erected throughout the grounds and also have been inserted on more than one occasion in the weekly "Bulletin of Empire Study," which circulates very widely among all classes of schools in the country. It may interest the House to know that 2, 000 bins of refuse are removed daily, and that 14 incinerators, capable of consuming 250 bins per hour, have been installed. I feel, therefore, that the Exhibition authorities are doing their utmost, and I understand that during the last few days a great improvement has been effected. I am confident also that the suggestion of the hon. and gallant Member for the Bilston Division of Wolverhampton regarding the co-operation of the Press will not be made in vain.
§ Lieut.-Colonel HOWARD-BURYCould not the hon. Gentleman have this more widely circulated and in a more widely read Press than in the particular journal to which he has alluded, and would it not be well to make use of incinerators which are employed to very great advantage in other places?
§ Sir H. BRITTAINIs it not a fact that we are the most untidy nation in the world? Therefore, is it not our duty to educate the coming generation?