View report page

42
The following special analyses were made during the year by Dr. Teed:—
Sulphur Bleached Raisins.—Sulphur dioxide, .06 per cent., was found, of
which two-thirds was given off on boiling with water. The flavour in the raisins was
objectionable.
Soda Bleached Raisins.—Nothing deleterious was found.
Tinned Pears,—1"19 grains of tin per pound.
Butter (Unsalted, with Preservative).—Boric acid, 19.6 grains per pound
found.
Shelled Walnuts.—Free fatty acid (calculated as olive), 3.61 per cent. Rancidity
was apparent, but not nauseously so.
Peas ("prepared with a small Quantity of Copper").—.35 grains copper per
pound of peas found.
Meat and Flour—which had. been subject to possible arsenical contamination
in water damage, was found to be free from arsenic.
SEAMEN'S ACCOMMODATION.
In 1906, certain recommendations of your late Medical Officer, Dr. Herbert
Williams, on the subject of the accommodation of seamen in merchant vessels were brought
through your Worshipful Committee to the notice of the Standing Committee on Trade
to which the Bill to amend the Merchant Shipping Act had been at that time referred.
Among other desiderata he recommended that—
J. The cubic space per head be increased.
2. The superficial floor space be increased.
3. The provision for ventilation be efficient.
4. Lighting be adequate.
5. A refection room apart from sleeping quarters be provided.
6. Bare iron in the quarters be efficiently insulated.
7. The galley be separate from living quarters ; and
8. Stoves where used be efficiently appointed against escape of fumes into
the accommodation space.
He pointed out that the fore part of a vessel is unsuitable for accommodation.
The whole matter was reviewed by him in his Annual Report for the year 1913,
where the Australian and Norwegian regulations were compared with those of the
United Kingdom.
In July, 1914, he read a paper at the Congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute at
Blackpool, entitled "Insanitary Conditions on Shipboard," critical of the adverse
conditions under which seamen lived.