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Middle and Upper River.
There was little change on the Eiver during the first week of the Strike. The second week,
however, when the lightermen came out, saw an almost complete stoppage as far as fresh arrivals
were concerned. Refuse lighters have ceased moving on the River, but this has not created
any difficulty yet, so far as the Port Health Authority is concerned.
Conclusions.
It will be seen from the above observations of your Inspectors that the normal day to day
work was greatly curtailed but that advantage was taken, in all the Dock Groups, to tackle in
greater detail, some of the more outstanding problems that are peculiar to each of the Dock
Groups.
VISITORS AND STUDENTS.
The organisation and activities of the Port Health Authority have always been of outstanding
interest and value to visitors from overseas engaged in port health administration and during
the year thirteen doctors or sanitary inspectors from Aden, Belgium, Ceylon, Egypt, Jamaica,
India, Malta, New South Wales, Sudan, and Sweden, were, at the request of the Ministry of
Health, Colonial Office and other Departments, shown various branches of port health work in
London.
Facilities were also provided for students of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine, the Royal Institute of Public Health, the Army School of Health, and the National
College of Food Technology to see aspects of port health work relating to their studies. Further,
at the request of the Ministry of Health two sanitary inspectors attached to the Milford Haven
Port Health Authority were trained in the inspection of ships for the issue of Deratting
Exemption Certificates.
SHIP-BORNE PESTS
and
A NEW INSECTICEDAL TREATMENT.
Your Worshipful Committee are already aware that your Chief Inspector, Mr. T. L. Mackie,
was awarded the Watts Prize for 1954, and by courtesy of the Institution of Naval Architects the
winning paper is reproduced as follows:-
Maritime history records that certain creatures prefer to make their habitat in the environs
of mankind even though he lives aboard ship. Here they are able to shelter and thrive on his
person or his possessions and many are the harrowing stories of misery, disease and even death
as a consequence of their presence. It is a long time since the Venetians, having realised the
dangers of sea-borne communicable diseases, imposed quarantine restrictions in the hope of
curbing the spread of such diseases from ships. The real value of this procedure is difficult to
assess, but it is known to have hampered commercial enterprise and incurred considerable
financial loss to the shipping interests.
These penalties on shipping spread to other sea ports and persisted over the centuries,
although the true causes of the trouble were not as yet really understood. It was not until the
latter part of the nineteenth century that the problem was vigorously attacked in the legislative
and scientific fields. Public Health legislation empowered port sanitary authorities to take
appropriate action and the Clayton process of fumigating ships was initiated.
In the twentieth century, interest and activity gathered momentum, even to the point of
international collaboration. Scientific investigators discovered more about causative agents and
vectors of tropical diseases; hydrogen cyanide was introduced as an effective fumigant and
International Sanitary Regulations 1926 were adopted.
At a later stage, Port Sanitary Regulations were operated, then finally, a new set of
International Sanitary Regulations 1951 were introduced to cover sea and air transport and
provided the substance from which the Public Health (Ships) Regulations 1952 have been
created.
Progress continues in the scientific field. Already, sulphur dioxide has been superseded by
hydrogen cyanide as a fumigant and this method of destroying rats is being challenged by an
expedient and substantially successful method of a quick-acting poison bait. A great deal of
success has crowned these concerted efforts which have struck the final blow to obsolete quarantine
practices and associated burdens on shipping, thereby increasing the economic efficiency of the
industry as a whole.
It is clear that the efficiency of each ship's performance is dependent not only on the ship
as a structure or her commercial managers, but upon the crew who sail in her. Bearing in mind
that a ship is intended to function as a profitable commercial enterprise, it is reasonable to pause
from time to time and review the gains and losses. Among the various observations, one may
find losses due to discontent of the crew, sickness, or a detention in port with associated
expenditure to comply with a port regulation. These three adversities have often a common
cause and owe their origin to pest life aboard the ship—pests such as rats, cockroaches, bed bugs,
ants, weevils, etc., which are always a social nuisance, a danger to health and saboteurs of
foodstuffs. Where there is general discomfort there is unhappiness, consequent loss of interest
and efficiency, and such conditions may act as a deterrent to the best type of seamen. There
are three essential conditions for the survival of pest life aboard ship:-
(а) obscure places in which to hide and multiply,
(b) convenient places providing food and moisture,
(c) means of communication between these places.
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