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"established for the purposes of the laws relating to the Customs of the
"United Kingdom, and shall pay out of their corporate funds all their
"expenses as such Port Sanitary Authority."
Section 112 further enacts that: "The Local Government Board may by
"order assign to the Port Sanitary Authority of the Port of London any
"powers, rights, duties, capacities, liabilities or obligations of a Sanitary
"Authority under this Act, or of a Sanitary Authority under the Public
"Health Act, 1875, and any Act extending or amending the same respectively,
"with such modifications and additions (if any) as may appear to the Board
"to be required, and the order may extend to the said port a Bye-law made
"under this Act otherwise than by the Port Sanitary Authority, and any
"such Bye-law, until so extended, shall not extend to the said port; and the
"said Port Sanitary Authority shall have the powers, rights, duties, capacities,
"liabilities and obligations assigned by such order in and over all waters
"within the limit of the said port, and also in and over such districts or parts
"of districts of riparian authorities as may be specified in any such order, and
"the order may extend this Act, and any part thereof, and any Bye-law made
"thereunder, to such waters and districts and parts of districts when not
"situate in London."
On this Act receiving Royal Assent your Medical Officer drew up a list of
the Sections of the Act under which it was deemed advisable that powers
should be obtained, and this was duly referred to the City Solicitor in order
to obtain the necessary order.
The Local Government Board, holding the opinion that the order assigning
powers under the Act of 1875 remains in force until cancelled by a new one,
did not issue such order in time for the first of January, and, as a matter of
fact, have the question still under consideration. From the above quoted
Section it will be seen that no Bye-laws made by the London County Council
have any force within the jurisdiction of the Port Sanitary Authority until
specially extended by the Local Government Board, and, further, that the
County Council has no authority over the Corporation or its officers.
The only part of the Act which came into force on the first day of the
present year was that relating to the consumption of smoke, which, for the
first time, throws the duty of prevention directly on the Sanitary Authority
without the intervention of the police.
Section 23 (3) enacts that—
"Every steam engine and furnace used in the working of any steam vessel
"on the River Thames, either above London Bridge or plying to and fro
"between London Bridge and any place on the River Thames westward of
"the Nore Light, shall be constructed so as to consume or burn the smoke
"arising from such engine and furnace, and if any such steam engine or
"furnace is not so constructed or, being so constructed, is wilfully used so that