The Clifton clarion., 1888-01-11
THE CLIFTON CLARION
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY II, 1888.
PARIS PAVEMENTs.
An Army of Men and Women Elm.
 plOyed in Cleaning Them.

ployed in Cleaning Them.
 Wooden pavements are slowly
 taking the place of every other
 kind in Paris. On the first oi
 January, 1884, this system had
 just been introduced and was be-
 ing experimented with on a sur.
 face of 707, 400 square feet; by the
 end of the year 2,s32O56 square
 feet of streets was paved in this
 way. Great as this rate of pro-
 gress seems 1t is not half fast
 enough, for. there still remains
 92,370,0O0 square feet of streets
 paved with stone or macadam.
 With all their advantages of noise-
 lessness and cleanliness wooden
 pavements have the drawback of
 being very expensive, not only to
 put down, but also to keep in re-
 pair. It costs 92 1-5 cents the
 square meter, while stone pave
 ments do not ever cost more than
 15 1-5 the square meter. The
 streets aresshaded by 9S,s6O 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 .2l, ,s90, GOO francs annually.
 A large portion of this sum goes to pay the 5000 men and 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 con- tingent to the force. There are two classes of these balayeurs and | balayeuses-the auxiliaries and the regulars. The former are paid from 6 to 8 cents an hour, aud are expected to do ten hours work day, which is divided up as follows: From 4 to II a. m. and from l to 4 p. m.; but it often happens, in bad weather. that hours of work have to be performed, while on the other hand, in far weather, the days are cut down to half time. The auxiliaries are recruited ac- cording to the need of the service, and many of them are men and women who have other trades in which, for the time being, they are unable to find employment. Of late the city has made it rule 10 offer five or six days work as auxiliary balayeurs to the inmates of the night refugees, and in this way number of declasses-uni- 'ersity graduates, professional nen, ex-governmeut employees, 'tc.-find their way into the street. cleaning brigade. Few of these, remain in it permanently. The regulars, who are known as 'ontonniers, are employed by the nonth, and no one is appointed vho is past the age of forty-fve ears. They receive fixed salary # 105 francs a month, and each ,ang is under the command of hief who is paid 120 francs nonth for his services as boss. d The balayeurs are divided into fH5 fight sections, and to each of them F 5 assigned section of the city. It intervals during the day the : hief assemblies his gang and calls he roll to assure himself that all re at their posts. Women as 'ell as men are employed to weep, but few of them earn as 1uch as 50 cents a day. For nost part the women who accept his employment are peasants rom the environs of Paris, and hey are usually past middle life. e The other day the balayeurs and ' alayeuses held meeting and re- olved to organize a trade syndi- ate, with a view to securing an increase in their pay, which they laim is not only too small, but is lso too dependent on the caprice F the officials in charge of their apartment. As modern citles go, 'arls takes. high rank for the B leanliness of its streets. The utters measure more than 500 liles in length, and every morn- lg water is turned into them and ley are swept by hand.-Cor. N. ., Picavnne M