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Mr. Madeley concludes with the following recommendations:—
1. Particular attention should be paid to the situation of filling pipes, sounding
pipes and air pipes to fresh-water tanks. They should be placed in as sheltered a
position as possible and under no circumstances should they terminate flush with
the deck. For filling and sounding pipes consideration should be given to some form
of patent cap which can only be opened by lifting a lever. When the lever is released
the pipe is closed and locked.
2. Main filters should be cleaned regularly in accordance with the manufacturers'
instructions. Much greater attention should be given to small filters.
3. Manholes to main storage tanks should whenever possible be placed on the
side of the tanks. If the manhole must be on the top of the tank it should be raised
above the tank top by a coaming or saddle piece.
Jointing of manhole covers should be by rubber insertion or other approved
jointing material.
4. In coasting vessels a tank on the main deck is dangerous and should be removed
to a more suitable position. A draw-off tap should always be provided.
5. Subsidiary tanks (when present) should receive greater attention both as
regards position and cleanliness.
6. Arrangements should be made for fresh-water tanks to be sounded separately
from salt-water tanks and bilges.
IV.—PORT SANITARY REGULATIONS, 1933.
At your Meeting on the 10th March, I reported to your Worshipful Committee
as follows:—
POET SANITARY EEGULATIONS, 1933.
These new Eegulations will come into operation on 1st May, 1933, and are designed to consolidate
in one code the whole of the regulations relating to the control of conditions liable to lead to the spread
of infectious disease from or to ships in ports in England and Wales.
They revoke the Eegulations issued in 1907, relating to Cholera, Yellow Fever and Plague in ships
from foreign ports, coastwise ships and outward bound ships, and also the Port Sanitary Authorities
(Infectious Diseases) Eegulations, 1920, and the Public Health (Deratisation of Ships) Eegulations, 1929.
The definition of the terms "infected ship "and" suspected ship" in relation to Cholera, Plague
and Yellow Fever respectively are amended in accordance with the International Sanitary Convention,
1926, and the sanitary measures prescribed in regard to such ships, and also to any in which Typhus Fever
or Small-pox has occurred, are precisely as laid down in the International Sanitary Convention.
The Port Sanitary Authorities (Infectious Diseases) Eegulations, 1926, and the Public Health
(Deratisation of Ships) Eegulations, 1929, appear practically unaltered as part of the new Eegulations.
There are, however, a number of new and important provisions. In the first place, the Master of a
foreign-going ship approaching a port in England or Wales is required to ascertain the state of health of
all persons on board and to fill in and sign a Declaration of Health in the prescribed form. Thus, the
Master will not, in future, be able to plead as an excuse for failure to notify sickness that he was not aware of
any case of illness aboard his ship. It will be his duty to ascertain whether all are in good health and,
if not, to notify the Port Sanitary Authority, unless he is satisfied that no question of infection or the spread
of infectious disease is involved. The Declaration of Health sets out the symptoms which should lead a
Master to suspect that a case of illness is one of the notifiable infectious diseases.
The definition of a "foreign-going ship" does not include ships trading between ports in Great Britain
and ports on the continent of Europe between the Eiver Elbe and Brest. The Masters of such ships are
thus exempted from the above requirements. It is obvious that the Masters of packet-boats to and from
the Continent could not comply, but I fail to see why this concession should be extended to cargo vessels.
The Eegulations provide that, in ports where there are arrangements for the reception by the Port
Sanitary Authority of wireless messages, the Minister is prepared to publish in the "London Gazette"
a notice that ships which are equipped with wireless transmitting apparatus and which require the attention
of the Port Medical Officer shall send to the Port Sanitary Authority, not more than twelve and not less
than four hours before the expected time of arrival of the ship, a wireless message giving the necessary
information. Such an arrangement has been in operation, on a voluntary basis, in the Port of London