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48
At the request of the Board of Trade, your Medical Officer had a conference
with the Principal Officer of the Board of Trade in December last on this
subject, and explained that the position of the Port Sanitary Authority was
that of dealing with a nuisance on the barges, arising from filthy liquid and
foul gases passing from the holds of the barges into the crew space ; that the
Port Sanitary Authority required the nuisance abated and its recurrence
prevented by the carrying out of the alterations suggested by this Authority.
Your Medical Officer explained that on re-inspection of barges on which such
alterations had been carried out efficiently, no nuisance had been found
to exist.
The Principal Officer explained that the three Surveyors working under him
had each advised a different method of preventing a nuisance on the barges,
and, as far as 1 was able to judge the different methods, all seemed likely to
prove satisfactory.
I pointed out that I did not think it would be advisable for the Board of
Trade to lay down details, as if the work was carried out in an imperfect
manner the nuisance would recur, and the barge owners would shelter themselves
behind the Board of Trade specifications, although the Port Sanitary
Committee would not accept that as a legal defence, but would be compelled to
take legal proceedings for non-compliance with the terms of the Statutory
Notice, inasmuch as the nuisance had recurred.
I ascertained from the Principal Officer that the suggested requirements
would only apply to barges carrying offensive cargoes and coming up for
registration or re-registration, which latter would only become necessary owing
to damage, which would alter the conditions under which the barge was
originally registered.
It will therefore be seen that if anything is to be done with regard to
improving the sanitary conditions under which the crews of these barges have
to spend their lives, that your Committee must persevere in the action which
it has already taken under the nuisance clauses of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, and that it must be left to the owners of the barges to take
whatever steps they may consider advisable in the way of structural alterations
to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance.
Subsequent to my interview with the Principal Officer, the Board of Trade
issued instructions to their Officers, of which the following is a copy:—
"Board of Trade M. 17721/1903 Continued (Marine Department).
"The Surveyors,
"London District,
"are informed that the Board of Trade have had under consideration
"the desirability of affording additional protection from effluvium in the
"case of the crew spaces of barges carrying offensive cargoes.