View report page

4. Nature and amount of alien traffic.
(a) Total number of arriving vessels carrying aliens 2,704
(b) Total number of aliens (excluding transmigrants, seamen and airmen)—
(i) Arriving at the port 26,752
(ii) Medically inspected 15,689
(iii) Medically examined 311
(c) Certificates issued 10
(d) Transmigrants landed and medically inspected Nil
5. Accommodation for medical inspection and examination is provided on Tilbury Landing Stage,
though in practice, the majority of aliens are inspected in the ship on arrival and any necessary
chaperonage is provided by nursing sisters or stewardesses borne in the ship.
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF ALIENS
I am indebted to Dr. J.A. Jones, First Assistant Port Medical Officer at Gravesend, for
kindly preparing the following note on the medical inspection of aliens in the Port of London:
London, one of the largest cargo ports in the world, has a relatively small passenger traffic.
In 1959 some 140,000 passengers, four-fifths of them British, were landed. This figure is
slightly higher than for the previous year but below that of several other ports in the Country,
and only one tenth of the number at London Airport.
For Immigration purposes the seaport has three divisions — "Adelaide House", "King
George V Dock" and "Gravesend". These correspond with the Port Health Authority's Upper,
Middle and Lower River Districts, but include the adjoining docks. "Adelaide House" also
covers the train ferries at Victoria but the numbers arriving there are not included in this report.
For statistical purposes, "Adelaide House" and "King George V Dock" are combined as "London"
and their returns show an interesting contrast with "Gravesend". For example, in July
1959, the number of alien passengers landed at Gravesend was 4,117, of whom 2,739 were carried
by the Swedish Lloyd vessel in 13 trips. "London", in the same month, had only 810 aliens,
but these were spread over no less than 317 ships. It is also interesting to note that during the
year more than 3,000 aliens were granted "Temporary Shore Leave". These aliens are often
"supernumeraries", including relatives of the crew, and friends and employees of the shipping
companies who get a free trip to London and who use the ship as a hotel. On the Declarations
of Health these persons are often included under the crew figures but the Immigration Officers
treat them as passengers. This is of no great importance, for whilst they may be the only "passengers"
in the ship concerned, they are not included in the returns of the Immigration or
Medical Inspectors.

Sixty per cent of all aliens arriving are of Swedish nationality. The U.S.A. provides 10%,
Finland 8%, and Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the Iberian Peninsular provide nearly all the
remainder in approximately equal numbers. A fair number of Swedish and Finnish girls arrive with
Ministry of Labour permits to take domestic employment and are normally liable to medical
examination. The main object of these girls is to improve their English. The great majority are
of good social and excellent physical standard so that a full examination is rarely necessary.
23