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8
beyond the legal requirements of the Merchant Shipping Act, and secondly
because of the small staff at the disposal of the Board. These remarks were
objected to by the Board of Trade as presumably indicating a want of care on
the part of the Board Officers. The statement specially traversed was the
one that in the case of a new ship all the requirements were rarely carried
out. By arrangement with the Board of Trade special note was taken of all
new vessels arriving in the Port. Eleven new vessels were inspected during
this period, and in every case some defect, as indicated by the Regulations,
was discovered and reported to the Board. In all cases an inspection was
ordered by the Board's officials and the defects remedied.
The largely increased powers thrown upon your officers by the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, have naturally greatly increased the work of the
staff, and I am now compelled to ask you for an immediate increase in order
that the work may be thoroughly and efficiently carried out. The increased
supervision of meat and provisions would alone justify the appointment of an
additional inspector. On a reference to Appendix H, it will be seen that
there were thirty-six distinct seizures of food within the six months, and thirtyfour
in the previous six months. Although in the majority of these cases the
quantities dealt with are not large, the three largest involving the seizure of
951, 852, and 118 carcases respectively, still the time occupied in examining
is very great, and obviously an inspector engaged on such work is drawn from
his ordinary routine. At the present moment the actual Sanitary work other
than the inspection of meat, requires increased care and attention, and I
would therefore lay great stress on the immediate appointment of an
additional inspector. By a careful re-arrangement of duties, and definition
of the limits of the districts to be inspected, the staff would then be sufficient
for the work.
It is a serious question to consider whether it is wise to appoint an
inspector whose whole duty it would be to examine food consignments, or
whether, as at present, the additional inspector should undertake general
duty. I believe the latter course would be the safer one to try, and to
re-arrange the work if unsatisfactory.
The objection to the special appointment of a meat inspector would be the
large amount of ground he would have to cover, the loss of time and
expense of travelling, while in the case of the Tilbury Docks (20 miles from
London) it would be practically impossible to make any other arrangement
than the present one. With regard to the expense of an additional inspector,
already a return of about 25l, per annum is received by the Port Sanitary
Authority for the expense of inspection, in accordance with a resolution of
Committee, and if increased time could be given to this important work, no
doubt this could be also augmented.
Special attention has been paid by your officers to the question of the supply
and storage of water on board ship for drinking purposes, in view of its
extreme importance in preserving the health of the mercantile marine.