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8
MEDICAL INSPECTION.
Tables I. and II. give particulars of the number of vessels arriving from
foreign ports, and those medically inspected, together with the number of
passengers and crew.
Arrivals at Gravesend and at Sheerness are separately dealt with as usual;
this course is more convenient, as vessels passing Sheerness up the Medway
are, in the majority of cases, bound for the Port of Rochester.
It will be seen that the number of foreign arrivals for the year is 9,571,
and a reference to the comparative table will show that this number is 515
below the average for the preceding ten years. The decreasing number of
vessels from foreign ports, arriving in the Thames, which has been remarked
in previous years, still continues, although the tonnage of the vessels has
increased, thus compensating for the diminution in the number of sailing
vessels arriving.
The number of medical inspections is shown to be rather larger than in
preceding years, and substantially above the average. This has been due to
the increased care necessary in dealing with vessels arriving from Russian
ports owing to the presence of Cholera in epidemic form in Russia.
With regard to Sheerness, the number of foreign arrivals there, although
below the average, is more constant, while the proportion of vessels medically
inspected there is higher.
The majority of vessels entering the Medway are from ports whence the
introduction of infectious disease is always possible, and in spite of the
difficulties of transport to vessels Dr. Legge continues to perform the duties
of medical inspection in an efficient manner ; in addition he has had during
the year to perform additional duties in connection with the inspection of
meat and other foodstuffs arriving at Queenborough.