The objection to both co-operative and individual methods, such as I have described, is that they can only be conducted upon the requisite scale in the very largest cities where the volume of material to be handled is relatively heavy. Waste must be forthcoming in a steady stream of uniform volume to justify its exploitation, and the fashioning and maintenance of these streams is the supreme difficulty. Ostensibly, in this country we have the very finest machinery in existence for the reclamation of waste of every description--the municipal and civic authorities. But, as results have conclusively demonstrated, they are the least efficient institutions in this respect. The few cities which are able to point to great achievements in this field are the very exceptions which serve to prove the rule. They do so in the most convincing manner, and incidentally bring home to us very vividly the enormous wealth which we are deliberately throwing away through lack of enterprise and adequate organization. The system is responsible for this deplorable state of affairs. The average municipal engineer, even if anxious to excel in this province, finds himself hampered at every turn. He is not vested with sufficient authority or freedom to carry any carefully prepared scheme into operation without the sanction of this, or that, Committee which, as a rule, is notorious for its lack of practical knowledge, more particularly in all matters pertaining to the value of waste. Then the multiplicity of officials and their salaries reacts against every possibility of a scheme being turned into a financial success. It is a matter for serious discussion as to whether our whole system of waste recovery, in so far as it affects municipalities, should not be overhauled from top to bottom--even superseded. It should be entrusted to private enterprise acting under licence. Were such a force encouraged we might safely anticipate the provision of well-equipped comprehensive plants, similar to those which I have described, for the treatment of waste of every description incurred within the district in which it operates. To this centre should be borne refuse of every description for segregation and preparation for the mills of industry. Private enterprise, from its close contact with the markets, would be able to set prices at which it would be prepared to purchase waste of every description from a dog-mauled bone to a worn-out scrubbing-brush; a discarded daily paper to an abandoned straw hat or pair of tattered boots.