Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-05-15
BRITISH Waste BASKET
FOR SECRET PAPERS

Three thousand FIVE hundred tons OF
secret papers. the majority OF which
must not be allowed to fall into the
lends Of curious outsiders. comprise
the contents OF John Bulls waste pa
per basket every year. This mass OF
rubbish IS made up OF old documents
and papers OF all descriptions from
the Government offices. the postoffice
and, indeed all Government institu-
tons, aud in addition to the quantity
derived from London, there are 300
centers In various parts OF the king.
dom from whence great sacks Of Off
cial papers are dispatched to the me.
tropolis every six weeks.
Until 1857 al, the governments
waste paper became the perquisite OF
the office keepers. messengers and 9TH
ers employed in its collection. but 1t
was found that this system resulted
in many important secrets becoming
public property. Eventually 1t was
decided that the waste should be sent
to the prisons, where II was sorted by
the prisoners. torp up by hand and
afterwavds sold to dealers.
Even ihls method was not 'satisfac.
y
ed headquarters at Earl street, West
minister, ana into this building all the
waste PAPER now goes to be dealt with
by a la"ge staf. which includes fifty
female sOILers.
From ten to twenty tons Is the aver
age amount Of waste paper received at
Earl street every day, and as the sacks
come IN they are handed over to the
sorterB and the contents carefully sep
arated on wire tables and classified
under twelve distinct heads. For in.
stance, class A represents the letters
and envelopes thrown away In Gov
eminent Offices: class c the official
bun paper documents, class ID old
newspaper kilograms which have been
Kept at the postoffice for period OF
three mouths before being discarded,
and SO on.
When the waste has been carefully
classified that of an unimportant ma.
ture, such a. Old envelopes. newspaper
1 telegrams etc. Is sold to dealers for
repulping The remainder, which IL
Is imperative TO still keep secret, is
destroyed on the premises, for which
purpose Il gas engine and guillotine
machine are used the documents be.
ing cut up into pieces so minute that
II would be impossible for anyone to
put them together.
State papers which have contained
diplomatic messages and matter OF
great import are not permitted to pass
into The hands Of supernumeraries, but
are cut up and taken away under the
charge of prominent official to pa
per mill. the situation OF which is I'M
known to anyone save the authorities.
Here the valuable documents are pulp.
ed and transformed into high class pa
per for future use.
Keen competition exists between
dealers to secure the nations waste
paper because OF its excellent quality.
PC otmakers are the chief purchasers
of old Government charts backed
with linen. which they use for lining
boots, SO 1t Is quite possible that the
reader may have beneath his feet the
fragments of a Government document
which caused a fiutter of excitement
throughout the country only last year.
No less than two and one-half tons
Of old ledgers and account books are
received at Earl street every week,
and these. after being defaced, are
sold to Belgian bootmakers for manu-.
facturo into ladies' shoes. Another i'm.
portant item is the fifteen hundred
weight of used ribbon from the Morse
telegraphic instruments, which reach
the same destination weekly.
All the waste, after having been duly
sorted is stored for a time, when
lists arc sent TO dealers, who are in.
vited to tender for its purchase. In
this way the national waste paper bas.
kct IL made to yield the handsome
profit of f650O annually, which goes
some way towards the heavy bill for
stationery used in Government of,
es.-Tid-Bits.