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58
As the tide runs out of Stangate Creek at the rate of about 1½to 2 miles
an hour, and the distance from H.M.S " Actæon" to Garrison Point is
21 miles, if the sewage is discharged from the vessel during the first two
hours of the ebb tide, there should be time during the remainder of the ebb
for the whole to pass quite clear of the River Medway—certainly there
appears to be little danger of any returning to Stangate Creek.
The closets used by the officers and petty officers, numbering eight in all,
were, as is usual, discharged into the River as often as used, and this would
be comparatively unimportant.
UNSOUND FOOD.
The year 1906 was not remarkable for any abnormal seizures of unsound
food.
The total quantities are shown in Table XXIV., and the quantities generally
are less than in the previous year, with the exception of " Wet Fish," of
which a larger quantity than usual was seized and destroyed.
An Inspector, on looking through the cargo of a steamer which had
arrived from Singapore, observed that there were 48 cases, each case containing
100 tins of sardines.
It was obvious that these articles of food were not ordinary imports from
Singapore, but had been returned for some unusual reason.
The examination revealed the fact that the contents of the tins were
unsound and unfit for human food.
The facts were brought to the notice of the owners, who asked that they
might be allowed to inspect them with a person who was described as an
expert. Facilities were afforded them, and they expressed the opinion that
the tins were a little " slack," but still perfectly good.
I personally examined the contents of four cases without finding a single
good tin amongst the 400 examined, and therefore I notified the owners that
it was my intention to carry the sardines before a Magistrate with a view to
having them condemned under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891.
The owners requested that they might take samples for submission to an
Analyst with a view to refuting my evidence before the magistrate.