View report page

9
5, Church Passage,
Guildhall, E.C. 2,
January, 1935.
TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE PORT OF LONDON HEALTH COMMITTEE.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report as Medical Officer of Health
of the Port of London. Last year, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry
of Health, I described in detail the measures you have adopted to carry out your
obligations under the Port Sanitary Regulations, 1933. It is unnecessary to repeat
this information in the present report, and I have, therefore, in the text, dealt only
with the special events of 1934. I have included reports by three of your Sanitary
Inspectors in regard to certain aspects of the hygiene of crew accommodation in ships
and by two of your Food Inspectors in regard to the inspection of canned foods.
In the course of their daily work your Inspectors acquire a great deal of practical
experience. It is desirable, both in their own interests and that of others engaged
in similar work, that they should be given the opportunity to express the opinions
they have formed as to the causes of, and the remedies for, the unsatisfactory conditions
which come under their notice.
Mr. J. D. Hamer, F.I.C., Chief Chemist of the Orient Steam Navigation Company,
has submitted some observations on the use of hydrogen cyanide as a fumigant.
The tonnage of vessels entering the Port of London during 1934 was
29,373,605 tons, being 1,278,321 tons more than in the previous year. Of the
14,614 vessels arriving from Foreign Ports, 2,065 were boarded and inspected by
your Medical Officers.
Two hundred and ninety-one vessels arrived in which there had occurred during
the voyage a total of 370 cases of Infectious Disease. This total included 114 cases
of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, of which 69 were passengers and 45 seamen on articles.
In the Training Ships there occurred 3 cases of Scarlet Fever, 2 of Diphtheria,
1 of Chicken-pox and 1 of Mumps.
Fifty-six cases were treated in your Hospital at Denton, of which 5 were
Scarlet Fever, 2 Diphtheria, 11 Enteric Fever, 13 Measles, 4 Mumps, 15 Chicken-pox,
and 6 were cases which were admitted for observation, but which proved to be noninfectious.
No case of Plague arrived, and no Plague-infected rats were found in ships or
on shore in the Port.
Nine hundred and ninety-seven rats from ships and 1,980 rats from shore premises
were bacteriologically examined, but in no case was there any suspicion of Plague
infection.
Seven vessels arrived in which a total of 11 cases of Small-pox had occurred,
but no case was actually landed in the Port.
Under the Parrots (Prohibition of Import) Regulations, 1930, 77 Notices were
issued in respect of 148 parrots; of these, 3 died, 17 were destroyed at the request of
the owners, and the remainder were re-exported. Fifty-six parrots were reported
to have died and been disposed of at sea. Nine dead parrots were sent to the bacteriological
laboratory of the Ministry of Health, but in no case was death due to Psittacosis.
Three hundred and ninety-nine parrots, &c., were admitted under Ministry of Health
permits.
Your Sanitary Inspectors made 20,856 inspections of vessels and 7,065 inspections
of shore premises.