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226
CROYDON AERODROME.
Aliens Acts.
The London Terminal Aerodrome is situated in the area of
Croydon. Medical duties in connection with the Aliens Acts are
carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Health by a part-time
medical officer on the staff of the Medical Officer of Health.
The duties of a medical officer at an Aerodrome differ considerably
from those at a seaport; the type of passenger using air
transport not being of the kind dealt with by sea-borne traffic. The
ma jority of passengers are business people or tourists. The medical
officer is on duty six hours daily from April to September inclusive,
and two hours daily during the six winter months. He is under
the administrative control of the Medical Officer of Health.
The public health problems arising from air transport are
peculiar to this mode of travel, which has greatly shortened
distances and so brought nearer the endemic diseases of the
tropics. Some of the medical problems and suggestions as to
their solution were dealt with in a paper read by the Medical
Officer of Health at the Royal Institute of Public Health's Congress
at Frankfurt, and subsequently published in the Institute's
Magazine.
The arrangements made at the Aerodrome for the convenience
of passengers and for the examination of aliens are satistory.
During the year one case was taken to Court for an infringement
of the Parrots (Prohibition of Importation) Regulations,
1929, and the defendants were fined £30 and costs. On several
occasions unsound food conveyed by aeroplane has been seized
and destroyed.
The arrangements in operation work smoothly and efficiently,
and much of this is due to the cordial co-operation and help at
all times received from H.M. Immigration Officers, H.M.
Customs Officers, and the management staff of the Aerodrome.
The Table below gives a summary of the traffic during the
year. Owing to the widespread economic depression the traffic
figures did not show so great an increase as has been observed
in previous years.