[Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow.

  • Glasgow (Scotland)
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    APPENDIX V. POWER OF BOARDING VESSELS BY PORT LOCAL AUTHORITIES. Dr. Chalmers read a paper (x) on the Power of Boarding Vessels by Port Local Authorities as follows: — Dr. Chalmers explained that local circumstances must to a considerable extent influence the value of existing powers for boarding vessels. In the case of the Clyde, where the channel below Glasgow was in reality a comparatively narrow waterway of about 20 miles in length there was no spot where the ship might be brought to once it had entered, and inspection either of the ship or crew, if it were to be effective, could only be carried out at a point below where the channel began. This as he understood it might be contrasted with the Mersey where there was ample room for anchoring in the waterway without entering the docks and without obstructing navigation. In these circumstances it became an important question how far existing legislation enabled them to discover sea-borne infectious disease which did not come under special regulations, and he believed the subject was important because of the almost complete absence of indigenous Smallpox in this country at the present time. The following supplied as good an illustration as any of the circumstances to which he had referred. On the morning of a day in December last a vessel arrived at the Tail of the Bank at Greenock from a Spanish port, and the crew were reported well by the Master. The tide permitted the vessel to go on, and she was examined in passing, arriving in one of the harbours of the Port Local Authority of Glasgow about two hours afterwards. Same day two spots appeared on the face of one of the crew—a fireman—but without doing more than attracting attention, until two days afterwards, when he fell ill and consulted a Doctor, who told him they were the early indication of a Smallpox eruption. When the vessel passed the Boarding Station, therefore, although no eruption was present it is likely that a temperature observation would have disclosed a degree of fever, wihch would have been sure to have attracted attention. Two questions thus arise: — (1) What power has a Boarding Officer in these circumstances to detain a ship for reasonably complete inspection ? (2) If in doing so he causes a vessel to lose the tide, and possibly adds to the working expenses of the voyage by the delay of a day, have the owners a case for damages ? To answer these questions a short statement of the legal power to board and inspect shipping for the discovery of disease and for public health purposes generally is necessary. The references are mainly to sections of the Acts applicable to Scotland, but corresponding sections exist in the English Public Health Act. Such power as exists is contained primarily in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, supplemented in specified circumstances by Regulations which have been issued by the Local Government Board under the provisions of Part IV. thereof and of the Public Health Act, 1904. The Cholera, &c., Regulations. Inspection for the Discovery of Nuisances.—Section XVIII. of the Act confers power of entry on the Local Authority and its officers, if there is “ reasonable ground for believing that nuisance exists,” and provides that, if admission be refused, a Sheriff, Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace, “ having jurisdiction in the place,” may, on application, and other intimation to the owner or occupier or person in charge, issue an Order requiring them to admit the Local Authority and its officers. A reasonable interpretation of this (') Before Port Local Authorities’ Association, London, January, 1913.