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Principal Ports from which ships arrive. The Port of London trades with all parts of the world.
SECTION IV—INLAND BARGE TRAFFIC.
Numbers and tonnage using the district and places served by the traffic.
There are approximately 7,000 barges of all types,; dumb barges, mechanically-propelled
barges, etc., registered annually with the Port of London Authority. The approximate tonnage is
500,000 tons.
The traffic of these craft extends throughout the length of the Port, while a number of them are
employed carrying goods and merchandise via the canals to all parts of the country.
SECTION V—WATER SUPPLY.
1. Source of supply for—
(a) The district—
All the docks in the London area obtain their water supplies from the Metropolitan Water
Board. Tilbury Dock is supplied by the South Essex Water Company.
The majority of the wharves are supplied by Public Water Authorities within whose area of
jurisdiction they are situated, while several have their own deep wells. A few have no water supplies
available for shipping in which case any water required must be obtained from water barges.
(b) Shipping—
Ships not able to obtain water from the shore supplies indicated above, or ships lying at buoys in
the river, can obtain supplies from water barges.
2. Reports of tests for contamination.
Periodic sampling of drinking water from the quayside hydrants and from water barges is carried
out, the samples being submitted to the Central Public Health Laboratory, Colindale, for examination.
3. Precautions taken against contamination of hydrants and hosepipes.
Hydrants within the dock area are of the standard type in use by the Metropolitan Water Board.
They are situated at intervals along the quayside and consist of an upright stackpipe with nozzle
couplings to which are attached the hoses.
The hoses, of rubber lined canvas, when not in use are coiled up and hung in specially constructed
boxes at convenient points within the docks. When in use particular care is taken that the hoses
do not sag into the dock water and, during the transfer from the ship to the shore, they should not
come into contact with the dock water. If this should happen the hoses are thoroughly cleansed and
flushed with fresh water before being used again.
4. Number and sanitary condition of water boats and powers of control by the Authority.
There were eleven water boats working in the Port during the year.
Water boats are registered annually by the Port of London Authority and such registration is
made conditional upon the report of the Port Health Officer as to the fitness of the craft for the
carriage of drinking water as also upon the purity of the water thus carried. To this end sampling is
carried out from time to time.
SECTION VI—PUBLIC HEALTH (SHIPS) REGULATIONS, 1952.
(1) List of Infected Areas (Regulation 6).
Arrangements for the preparation and amendment of the list, the form of the list, the
persons to whom it is supplied and the procedure for supplying it to those persons.
The list of scheduled ports on page 4 of the Declaration of Health covers, broadly speaking, the
whole of Asia, Africa, South and Central America and the Eastern Mediterranean. To attempt to supply
to Pilots and Customs Officers a weekly list of infected ports based on the Weekly Record of Quarantinable
Diseases issued by the Ministry of Health would lead to chaos and to much more delay and inconvenience
to shipping than the system of inspecting, as a routine, ships from any part of the world
in which dangerous infectious diseases are endemic or, from time to time, epidemic.
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