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The following infringements of the Act were also found:-
Certificate of Registration not produced 8
Certificate of Registration requiring renewal 4
Registration Marks on boat obliterated or illegible 2
Registration Mark on boat incorrect 1
Overcrowded accommodation 3
Total 18
The Owners and Masters were informed of the requirements of the Act in these respects.
Among the infringements of the Act detailed above is that of "overcrowded accommodation",
which is not normally a recurrent one and is, therefore, of special interest. The three instances
referred to in this category were the subject of reports by the Port Health Inspector at Regents
Canal Dock, and concerned the habitable conditions existing aboard certain of the British
Transport Waterways canal boats. Although superficially unconnected the incidents were related
in that they concerned one family, a rather large one comprising six children all of or under
school age besides the Master —or Steerer as the person in charge is colloquially known—and
his wife. This was two in excess of the permitted complement, the accommodation which the
family occupied consisting of the living-quarters provided by two canal boats which are normally
coupled together.
The problem of relieving the overcrowding proved more formidable than at first anticipated,
because none of the children was old enough to work a third boat, nor would the Steerer consent,
at first, to any disintegration of his family by allowing any of its members to be accommodated
at the hostel at Birmingham.
The Fleet Superintendent of British Transport Waterways was very co-operative when the
matter was brought to his attention, and approached it from every possible angle in an endeavour
to find a solution but with no immediate success. It must be borne in mind that the provision of
adequate living accommodation on canal boats, because of restrictions on their size which is of
necessity measured by their ability to negotiate the locks and tunnels on a canal, is a problem
hardly comparable with that generally encountered by housing authorities; the latter are able, in
the majority of cases, to alleviate such conditions by the allocation of a larger dwelling. The
one great difficulty confronting canal boat owners is that the habitable accommodation cannot
easily be altered to meet the needs of large families without some encroachment on the space
needed for cargo, and the standard dimensions regulating the size of these boats do not, therefore,
permit any extensive alteration. The Superintendent promised to pursue the matter further, and
subsequently put forwarded alternative suggestions whereby the problem might be resolved:-
(1) To allocate to this family one of the newly designed "butties" which were in the course
of being constructed. This, however, did not materialise. (A "butty" boat is a craft
which, being without mechanical means of propulsion, must be towed.)
(2) To send some of the Steerer's children to a new hostel at Bulls Bridge, Middlesex,
which was due for completion in the near future, a course to which he had readily agreed.
At this point the matter for a time remained in abeyance. Then, suddenly, it was again
brought prominently to attention by the Steerer's wife, who, taking the matter into her own hands,
gave it the necessary impetus which brought the whole business to a rather premature conclusion.
She presented her husband with a daughter, which event was duly included in the report of the
Port Health Inspector, who had occasion shortly afterwards to inspect the boat. His record
enumerating the occupants included the laconic entry, "Daughter, aged two weeks."
Aggravation of the overcrowded conditions on the two boats concerned could not then be
overlooked, and it undoubtedly created a potential health risk for the newcomer which could not
be permitted. The reaction of the Deputy Medical Officer of Health was definite and immediate,
and an approach made to the British Transport Waterways received prompt attention. He was
subsequently informed by the Waterways Authority that the Matron at the Birmingham Hostel, in
view of the urgency of the matter, had given it prior consideration and had accepted two of the
younger children into her charge.
There the matter concluded, an episode truly reminiscent of A.P. Herbert.
During the year fifteen certificates authorising the purchase of scheduled Dangerous Drugs
were issued under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, 1953, Regulation 13 (2) of which is as
follows :-
DANGEROUS DRUGS
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