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9
5, Church Passage,
Guildhall, E.C. 2,
January, 1936.
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. Circular 1508 issued by the Ministry of Health on
25th November, 1935, states that " any permanent arrangements which have been
fully described in previous Annual Reports and have not been altered may be omitted
from the Report for 1935." The permanent arrangements in the Port of London
were fully described in my Report of the year 1933. I have, therefore, in this Report
dealt only with such changes as have taken place since then.
I again invited direct contributions to this Report from your Food Inspectors and
Sanitary Inspectors, and I have included one from Inspector F. J. Massie on
" The Importation of Chilled Meat from Australia and New Zealand," and another
from Inspector C. E. Wright on " The Transport and Handling of Meat."
The tonnage of vessels entering the Port of London during 1935 was 29,673,932,
being 300,327 tons more than in the previous year. Of the 14,039 vessels arriving
from Foreign Ports, 2,199 were boarded and inspected by your Medical Officers.
On 240 vessels infectious disease was reported to have occurred during the voyage,
the total number of cases being 450, of which 191, including 99 of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis, were landed in the Port.
In the Training Ships there occurred one case of Diphtheria and three of
Chicken-pox.
Fifty-two cases, particulars of which are given in Appendix II., were admitted
to your Hospital at Denton.
No case of Plague occurred in any London bound ship during the year, and of
888 rats from ships and 1,912 from shore premises examined bacteriologically, none
showed any evidence of Plague infection.
Four vessels arrived in which a total of four cases of Small-pox had occurred, but
no case was actually landed in the Port.
The Parrots (Prohibition of Import) Regulations, 1930, continued in operation,
and the work done thereunder is reported on page 55.
Your Sanitary Inspectors made 15,747 inspections of vessels and 6,764 inspections
of shore premises. Two thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight defects were reported
in 2,404 vessels, in 2,364 of which the defects were remedied. Thirteen hundred and
forty-nine nuisances were reported in 1,334 shore premises, in 1,327 of which the
nuisances were abated.
Nuisance from smoke was reported in respect of 108 vessels, and in 58 instances
a Statutory Notice was served on the Master.
The number of vessels fumigated for rat destruction under the supervision of
your Inspectors was 125, seventy-four by hydrogen cyanide and 51 by sulphur dioxide.
By the former method 702 rats and 158 mice, and by the latter 773 rats and 312 mice,
were destroyed.