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9
5, Church Passage,
Guildhall, E.C. 2,
January, 1934.
TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE PORT OF LONDON SANITARY COMMITTEE.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report as Medical Officer of Health
of the Port of London. In Memo. 174/S.A. (Port and Riparian Authorities—Annual
Reports of Medical Officers of Health) the Ministry of Health have requested
information under the various headings which appear in the text. I have endeavoured
to describe clearly the measures you have adopted to give effect to the new Port
Sanitary Regulations which came into force on 1st May, 1933; to prevent the
importation of infectious diseases; to keep the Port free from rodent plague;
to supervise the hygiene of crew accommodation in ships and to ensure that imported
food which is diseased, unsound or unwholesome is not disposed of for human
consumption. I have included a Paper on "The Rat-proofing of Ships " and another
on the "Inspection of Refrigerated Foods," which I read during the year before the
Association of Port Sanitary Authorities and the British Association of Refrigeration
respectively, as these have a direct bearing on your administration.
The tonnage of vessels entering the Port of London during 1933 was
28,095.284 tons, being 1,239,347 tons more than that for the previous year. Of the
13,575 vessels arriving from foreign ports, 1,600 were boarded and inspected by
your Medical Officers.
Three hundred and fifteen vessels arrived on which there had occurred during
the voyage a total of 388 cases of infectious disease. This total included 148 cases
of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, of which 111 were passengers and 37 seamen on articles.
The only infectious sickness occurring in the Training Ships during the year was
Scarlet Fever, of which there were 16 cases.
No case of Plague arrived and no Plague-infected rats were found in ships or on
shore in the Port.
Six hundred and fifty rats from ships and 1,377 from shore premises were
bacteriologically examined, but in no case was there any suspicion of Plague infection.
One vessel arrived in which a case of Cholera had died at sea and four vessels
arrived from which cases of Small-pox had been landed abroad.
Under the Parrots (Prohibition of Import) Regulations, 1930, 117 Notices were
issued in respect of 394 parrots, &c.; 213 were admitted under Ministry of Health
permits, 160 were exported and 21 destroyed. In addition, 7 parrots were reported
as having died in vessels during the voyage, the bodies being destroyed before arrival
in the Port.
Your Sanitary Inspectors made 15,381 inspections of vessels and 6,169 inspections
of shore premises. Orders to cleanse crew quarters were made on 2,263 vessels, and
it was found necessary to call for structural alterations and repairs to 407 vessels.
Orders to remedy structural defects were made in respect of 53 premises.
Twenty-three Statutory Notices were served on Masters of ships in respect of
smoke nuisance.
The Public Health (Deratisation of Ships) Regulations, 1929, were repealed by
the Port Sanitary Regulations, 1933, which came into operation on the 1st May, 1933.
Under these Regulations, a total of 1,027 Certificates were issued; 136 Certificates of
Deratisation and 891 Certificates of Exemption from Deratisation.