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destination, and address, who shall knowingly give, or notify, a
false or fictitious name, place of destination or address, or refuse or
fail to give or notify his true name, intended place of destination
and address, is liable to a penalty of £100, and in the case of a
continuing offence, to a farther penalty of £50 for every day
during which the offence continues.
The s.s. "Riplingham," 104,221, Goole, arrived on July 8th, from
Archangel, where Cholera was epidemic, and in the course of examination by
the Medical Officer a seaman complained that he had had profuse diarrhoea
for some days.
I visited the ship and ordered the man to be landed at Denton Hospital
with all effects, the quarters to be disinfected, Archangel water pumped out,
and then allowed the vessel to proceed to dock.
The patient was kept under observation in hospital for some days,
but no symptoms of Cholera were observed, and he was allowed to leave
and rejoin his vessel.
The work of notifying to the respective Medical Officers of Health the
names and addresses of the persons arriving from infected ports entails
much additional work on the clerical staff, no less than 2,693 such notices
having been sent during the Period from June to November.
A small proportion, equal to 1.8 per cent., of the persons landing could not
be traced at the addresses given. This, of course, constitutes a loophole for
the introduction of the disease, and as it would seem that a certain number of
persons cannot be relied upon to give correct addresses, it may be necessary in
future to detain all the passengers on board the vessels arriving at Gravesend,
and only allow them to land on producing some evidence that they are either
known at the address given or are expected to arrive there.
Many passengers arrived from Russia by steamer during the height of the
London season, when the hotels were almost fully occupied—some gave
addresses at some of the largest hotels, and on arrival, found there was
no accommodation to be had, so had to go elsewhere.
On enquiry being made at the addresses given, of course they were
not there, and it entailed much time and trouble to trace them.
Port Sanitary Office,
King William Street,
Greenwich, S.E.
By Order,
HERBERT WILLIAMS,
Medical Officer of Health,
Port of London.