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The above figures show a considerable reduction in the number of inspections made by the
Port Health Inspector at Regent's Canal Dock during the year compared with last year. It can be
assumed that this was due to the rapid decline in canal boat traffic, which, as reported by the
British Waterways Authority, has been reduced from 80 operating pairs of two years ago to about
50 pairs at the present time. One of the principal factors responsible for this decline was the
shortage of experienced crews to operate the craft as well as the inability to retain or recruit
younger members into the service. The Authority was thus compelled to rely on the veteran
crews whose numbers are constantly diminishing. It would seem that, along with many other
traditional institutions, the Inland Waterways of this country are beginning increasingly to feel
the wind of change.
The dearth of personnel has been brought about, it was reported, mainly by greater educational
enlightenment coupled with opportunities — lacking to the earlier generation — which now attracted
the younger generation away from the canals. They had an emerging consciousness of other and
more exciting possibilities in the way of careers. Another reason was that crammed living conditions
aboard the narrow boats contrasted very poorly with housing accommodation to be had
ashore in other occupations, especially for families, and it was in this respect that consideration
was being given by British Waterways to a new operational scheme. The scheme proposed a
system of shore based crews who would pass the boats from one stage to another, thus eliminating
the need to live aboard as they did at present.
Although there has been no definite statement regarding this project other than in the Press,
there was some evidence of such an operational scheme being tried out on the Grand Union and
Regents Canals at the beginning of the year.
The Port Health Inspector reported the simultaneous arrival of several canal boats without
their Registration Certificates aboard. The Public Health Act, 1936, provides that these certificates
should be available for inspection by an authorised officer, and failure to produce them
renders the owner or master liable to a fine. The excuse in each case was a bona-fide presumption
on the part of the Master that, as the boat was manned by one person who was making a
single journey only and as it was not being used for sleeping purposes, no certificate was
necessary. The Medical Officer of Health wrote to the owners and pointed out that such temporary
relaxation of the Regulations was not provided for, and that when a canal boat was registered for
use as a dwelling the certificate should always accompany the boat when it was in service,
whether inhabited or otherwise.
From a subsequent memorandum prepared by the Port Health Inspector it became apparent
that British Waterways have surmounted this administrative difficulty quite effectively. He has
reported the appearance of a new type of "hybrid''" narrow boat with a portable cabin which can
be dismantled when necessary. Divested of its cabin, it becomes in effect a lighter or dumb
barge, which need not be registered as it is devoid of living accommodation. However, when used
with a cabin, it will have to be registered as a habitable dwelling subject to the Regulations
under the Act. It can be said unequivocally that this type of craft was not envisaged when the
provisions of the Public Health Act were laid down nearly thirty years ago.
In previous years there have been a number of complaints from Masters of canal boats regarding
the unhealthy conditions of their living quarters attributed to condensation, which was caused
by bad ventilation or insufficient insulation in the structural material of which the cabins were
built.
This condensation is usually caused by the humid atmosphere inside a cabin which is
occupied, being subjected to the effect of the very cold atmosphere outside through walls whrich
are not adequately insulated against it. The sharp drop in temperature causes the internal moist
air to condense in droplets on the inside walls. The moisture generally permeates the whole cabin
making everything damp and in some cases mouldy, thus having a most deleterious effect upon the
contents of cupboards, bed-linen and furniture. In one reported instance it was stated to be the
direct cause of illness (influenza).
As a result of complaints and representations by the Medical Officer of Health, the British
Waterways Authority, after trying various forms of improved ventilation which did not always
prove successful, produced what is considered by the Port Health Inspector to be a completely
satisfactory form of insulation. The cabin structure, instead of being constructed from single
plywood, consists of a "double skin" which provides an air space as an efficient insulating
medium.
It was carefully pointed out, however, that this construction could only be incorporated into
new boats as the cost of modification or conversion of existing boats would be prohibitive.
It is to be hoped that the disappearance of reports of this class of defect from this year's
report is an indication that it has happily been abated.
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