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Records of discharge of oil from ship to shore or from ship to ship are to be
kept and to be subject to an inspection authorised by the Board of Trade or the
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Tank washings are deemed to be oil.
The Board of Trade may appoint inspectors who shall have powers of entry
for inspection. A Port Sanitary Authority represents its complaint, if any, to the
Board of Trade.
By amendment of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, proceedings in Summary
Jurisdiction against a master of a vessel may be instituted up to two months
after the date on which he returns to Great Britain or Northern Ireland from a
voyage which succeeds an alleged offence, notwithstanding the date of such alleged
offence. *
Proceedings in respect of an offence committed in a harbour are taken by the
Harbour Authority and otherwise only by persons specially authorised by the
Board of Trade or the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The expression " vessel " means any description of vessel which is constructed
and fitted to carry in bulk, whether as cargo or for bunker purposes, more than
five tons of oil in any one space or container.
The waters to which this Act applies are the territorial waters of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland and the waters of harbours therein.
HOUSE BOATS IN LEIGH CREEK.
In 1921, the Borough of Southend, through Dr. Pugh, the Medical Officer of
Health, complained of a nuisance arising upon the foreshore at Leigh from the
numerous boats of classes varying from the laid up yacht to the barge or bawley
boat with a wooden structure erected thereon, which are used entirely as human
habitations.
At a place which is in vogue as a seaside resort, such conditions as might arise
from the throwing overboard of filth, ashes and refuse are a potential nuisance ;
the more particularly is this so from the fact that all the boats complained of lie
on mud from which all water has receded with the tides for the greater part of the
twenty-four hours, and are lodged as close to the high water line as possible for
convenience to the boat population in getting ashore.
The nuisance found from time to time is not glaring but potentially so and
cumulative. The situation of most of the boats is in the Eastward angle between
Leigh Island and the Leigh foreshore at the mouth of the narrow high tide waterway
separating these places.
The foreshore rights at this point are owned by the Salvation Army.
Removal of the boats is the cure of the nuisance. The boats as residences
are not unhealthy as habitations up to the point of securing closure ; moreover,
the difficulties of housing are such that a rather wretched lodging in them can
command 25s. per week as rent.
Regulation under the nuisance clauses of the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, is difficult and implies a recognition of the type of undesirable dwelling ;
in the difficulty it seems more satisfactory that the regulations which may be
enforced in connection with tents, vans and similar structures used for human
habitation should be applied directly to these " similar structures," which are
neither on the water nor on land, but which menace amenities and public health
in much the same way as would a van taking up a permanent position were there
no sanitary provision governing its stay.
The possibility of extending the bye-laws to the Port Sanitary Authority
is under consideration by the Ministry of Health.