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32
DANGEROUS DRUGS.
On the 16th September your Medical Officer certified that the Master of the
ss. " Georgian " was authorised to purchase and be in possession of 24 x 0-25 grain
tablets of morphine for the use of the ship until it next reaches its home port.
The certificate was issued under the Dangerous Drugs (No. 3) Regulations, 1923,
amending the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, 1921, Regulation 1-5 of which is as
follows :—
" If a foreign ship in any port in Great Britain requires to obtain a supply of any of the drugs
in order to complete the necessary equipment of the ship, the Master of the ship is authorised to
purchase and be in possession of such quantity of any of the drugs as may be certified by the Medical
Officer of Health of the Port where the ship is (or in his absence by the Assistant Medical Officer
of Health of the Port) to be necessary for the purpose, the quantity not to exceed what is required
for the use of the ship until it next reaches its home port. The certificate given by the Medical
Officer or Assistant Medical Officer of Health of the Port shall be marked by the supplier with the
date of the supply and shall be retained by him and kept available for inspection."
PUBLIC HEALTH (DERATISATION OF SHIPS) REGULATIONS, 1929.
These Regulations come into operation on 1st January, 1930, and will put into
effect the terms of Article 28 of the International Sanitary Convention, 1926. They
refer only to those ports which are authorised by the Minister of Health to issue
Deratisation and Deratisation Exemption Certificates, and which have been notified to
other countries through the Office International d'Hvgiene Publique as approved for
this purpose.
Every vessel arriving from foreign countries at an approved port will be required
to produce a valid certificate of deratisation or of exemption from deratisation—-that
is to say, a certificate issued at an approved port at home or abroad within, the previous
six months or, in the case of a vessel proceeding to a home port, within seven months.
If no valid certificate is produced, the vessel must be inspected as to the prevalence
of rats on board. If the Medical Officer of Health is satisfied; that there are very few
or no rats in the ship, a Deratisation Exemption Certificate must be issued. But if
there are more than a minimum number of rats on board, the vessel must be deratised,
and when this has been done to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health he
must issue a Deratisation Certificate.
Provision is also made for the inspection of vessels at the request of the Master
or Owner and for the issue of the appropriate certificates.
Certificates must be in the form prescribed by the Minister of Health, to whom
a copy of every certificate must be sent.
The Owner or Master of the ship must pay to the Port Sanitary Authority such
fee for the inspection of his ship and the issue of the appropriate certificate as the
Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, require.
Note.—For the past year your Officers have been carrying out the inspection of ships and the issue
of Certificates under Article 28 of the International Sanitary Convention, but only at the request of the
Owners or Master of vessels sailing to countries where the production of a valid certificate of deratisation
or exemption from deratisation is already compulsory. From 1st January, 1930, all foreign-going ships
arriving in approved ports in this country will be required to be in possession of a valid certificate. This
will mean more inspections and the issue of more certificates. It is anticipated that the staff already
appointed for the purpose will be sufficient for the work of inspection, though it is not possible to forecast
to what extent Owners or Masters will elect to obtain the necessary certificates in the Port of London.
But it appears highly probable that an addition to the clerical staff will be necessary. The forms of
certificate are elaborate and need very careful preparation. Moreover, it will be necessary to keep records
which will enable the dates and results of previous inspections to be consulted easily and quickly.
In order to prevent difficulties arising from the fact that many Shipping Companies
would probably not be acquainted with the Regulations, your Medical Officer circulated