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for the past two years, but it will now be desirable to apply to the Minister for a declaration officially putting
this arrangement into operation in this Port. It will further be necessary for the sake of uniformity to
change the telegraphic address of the Port Sanitary Authority for the purposes of such messages from
"Hygeia Gravesend " to " Portelth London."
New instructions are issued in regard to the "Flags and Signal Lights" to be shown by ships as
indications of the health conditions on board. The Port Sanitary Authority are required to establish,
with the concurrence of the Customs Officer and the Harbour Master, one or more "mooring stations"
within the docks where ships can, if necessary, be isolated. Similarly, a mooring station outside the docks
must be established, if local conditions permit. "Infected" of "suspected" ships must be taken to a
mooring station, unless the Medical Officer of Health otherwise directs.
The Medical Officer of Health must prepare and keep up-to-date a list of ports which are infected or
suspected to be infected with Plague (human or rodent), Cholera, Yellow Fever, Typhus or Small-pox,
and must supply Pilots and Customs Officers with such list and any amendments thereto. Owing to the
difficulties of notifying Pilots and Customs Officers promptly of changes in the list of infected ports,
I propose to continue the present practice of issuing a list which includes the ports of all countries in which
these diseases are endemic or, from time to time, epidemic. I hope also to be permitted to print this list
on the Declaration of Health.
As formerly, pratique, i.e., permission for a ship to have free communication with the shore, can only
be granted by an Officer of H.M. Customs. A Customs Officer on boarding a ship must, therefore, peruse
the Declaration of Health and may make any further enquiries. If, in consequence, he is of the opinion
that the health conditions of the ship require investigation by the Port Medical Officer, or if the ship has
sailed from or called at any port on the list of infected ports or is for any other reason subject to the special
instructions of the Medical Officer of Health, the Customs Officer must detain such ship until it has been
medically inspected, and such inspection must be carried out within twelve hours. If the Port Medical
Officer boards a ship before the Customs Officer he may take such steps as are indicated by the health
conditions on board, and notify the Customs Officer when there are no medical reasons for withholding
pratique. No person other than the Pilot, Customs Officer, Immigration Officer or officer of the
Port Sanitary Authority may board or leave a ship without the permission of the Medical Officer of Health
until it is free from control under these Regulations. The Medical Officer may make the granting of such
permission conditional upon the person concerned giving his name, intended destination and address and
any other information reasonably required for the purpose of these Regulations.
If Plague (human or rodent), Cholera, Yellow Fever, Typhus or Small-pox occurs on board a ship after
it has arrived in the Port, the Medical Officer of Health may, if he thinks fit, order the removal of the ship
to a mooring station.
The Medical Officer of Health is empowered to board any ship, examine any person who is suffering
from or may have been exposed to infectious disease, or who is believed to be verminous, and may order
such isolation of persons on board or ashore and such measures of disinfection as he deems necessary. The
Master of a ship is required to notify the occurrence of infectious disease on board, to answer all health
questions and to render such assistance as may be reasonably required.
The Medical Officer of Health may examine any person proposing to embark on a ship whom he suspects
to be suffering from Plague, Cholera, Yellow Fever, Typhus or Small-pox, and prohibit their embarkation,
if necessary. He may also prohibit the embarkation of persons who are contacts with the severe type of
Small-pox or who have come from a district where this disease exists. If the Minister of Health has declared
a district in England or Wales to be infected with Plague, Cholera, Yellow Fever, Typhus or Small-pox, the
Medical Officer of Health of the port concerned has certain other obligations for the protection of ships
within such port.
Where, under these Regulations, the Master of a ship is required to carry out measures for the prevention
of the spread of infection the Port Sanitary Authority may, at the request of the Master and if they think
fit, at his cost, carry out such measures on his behalf, but if any charges are so made they must not exceed
the cost incurred by the Authority, and must not in any case exceed Twenty Pounds unless notice of the
charge has been given to the Master before the commencement of the work.
The officers of the Port Sanitary Authority must enforce and execute the Regulations in so far as they
are directed so to do by the Port Sanitary Authority. It is, therefore, necessary for your Worshipful
Committee to give the appropriate directions.
These Regulations will certainly be welcomed by all Port Sanitary Authorities, for they will bring
quarantine administration in this country up-to-date, and should make it as nearly uniform as is practicable
in the ports of the United Kingdom.
I still look forward to the day when it will be possible to abolish the routine medical inspection of
ships from infected ports and to substitute a compulsory declaration, not only of the occurrence of infectious
disease or of illness suspected to be of an infectious nature, but also of sickness occurring during the voyage,
the nature of which is uncertain, of deaths from any cause and of illness of any sort whatever which exists
on board at the time of arrival of the ship in port. I have put forward such a scheme in detail, but it has not
yet found acceptance.
Your Worshipful Committee resolved to:—
1. Direct the members of your Staff to execute and enforce these Regulations and declare all
your Sanitary Officers to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations, with the proviso
that only your Medical Officer of Health or, in his absence, the Medical Officer authorised to act in
his place, shall perform the duties imposed by these Regulations in relation to the signing and issuing
of certificates and statements.
2. Apply to the Minister of Health for a declaration putting Article 6 (dealing with wireless
messages) into operation in the Port of London.