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The effects of these Regulations as affecting the Port of London Sanitary Authority,
are as follows:—
Every person suffering with Pulmonary Tuberculosis who has been on a vessel
and who forthwith comes under the care of a Medical Practitioner either in his private
or official practice, shall be notified to me. This will enable enquiries to be made on the
vessel to ascertain whether there are any effects, &c., remaining there which are liable to
retain infection, and will also enable the quarters inhabited by the patient to be
inspected, and if necessary thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. The Local Government
Board in the circular issued with the Order state that:—" Apart from the actual
"treatment of cases, the Board would again urge on Local Authorities the great
"importance of their making full use of their powers of preventing overcrowding,
“and of securing the removal of any conditions tending to injure the health of persons
"residing in their districts."
It may be stated that the crews' quarters on vessels are habitually overcrowded,
when judged by the lowest standard of accommodation which exists or is permitted on
shore, which cubic capacity is, in the case of common lodging-houses occupied by day
and night, 400 cubic feet, whereas seamen may only have 72 cubic feet per head.
The conditions under which seamen on vessels live are particularly favourable
for the dissemination of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, and it would seem that until the
legislature takes some more practical interest in the welfare of seamen, Pulmonary
Tuberculosis will continue to be a cause of much mortality amongst this class of men.
I have pointed out before, that the conditions of life on vessels for seamen can be
much improved especially in new vessels without much addition to the prime cost of
construction.
The crews' quarters should be situated above deck, preferably in the after part of
the ship. This position will enable their quarters to be provided with skylights and
adequate means of ventilation. Ventilation means the regular supply of fresh air to
the inhabited spaces, without the creation of a draught, and the extraction of the foul
air so that the carbonic acid gas, &c., shall be constantly removed and the quantities
not allowed to increase beyond a recognised low percentage, whilst the relative quantity
of oxygen in the air may be as high as possible.
The present Regulations of the Board of Trade merely insist on the provision of a
ventilator, which is often situated over a berth, and is generally stopped up from below,
or the external opening is covered up with canvas.
Complaints are made of the degeneracy of the seamen found on board British
ships. They can, indeed, do little else but degenerate under the present conditions.
Persons who travel by steamer and are enabled to sleep in State Rooms below deck
are often only too cognisant of the imperfect ventilation found in ordinary steamers
even under such favourable circumstances where the State Room is inhabited usually
for only a few hours at night—they can easily imagine the condition of the seamen
shut up in quarters below deck which are practically in constant use as a sleeping,
living and dining room, generally dark, dirty, damp, and encumbered with clothing.
In some of the smaller vessels the men have even to provide and to keep their food in
their quarters.