WESTRALIA MAY BERTH.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 222, 18 September 1919, Page 7

WESTRALIA MAY BERTH.

WATERSTDERS AND QUARANTINE. MODIFICATION OF ATTITUDE. FIVE DAYS' INTERVAL NOW. PASSENGERS, CREW AND CARGO ON SAME FOOTING. | A modification "of the attitude of the watersiders towards the quarantine regulations will now allow overseas and Aiustralian shipping to berth after the lapse of five days from the time of leaving the last port provided that the vessel has a clean bill of health, but passengers and ! crew will be isolated tor that period instead of leaving the vessel after the medical inspection. This decision was arrived at by a stop-work meeting of the [Auckland Waterside Workers' Union today, and, as a result, the Westralia mil be allowed to discharge her cargo without any further delay. The decision was arrived at as the result of the receipt of a letter from the [Federation, which stated that the quarantine regulations had been the subject of a conference between the ActingChief Health Officer, Dr. H R. MakgiU, 'representatives of the Waterside Workers' Federation, and of the New Zealand ship owners, and that the conditions under which vessels -would be workyd had been defined. At the conclusion of the meeting, the secretary, Mt. milliard, stated that the previous decision of the union not to work vessels tor seven days after the time of leaving port had been rescinded, 1 and the men had agreed to work thean on the following conditions, approved by the Federation:—

In the case of vessels arriving from overseas or Australian ports the Health Officer is to make a thorough examination of passengers and crew, and issue a certificate that the vessel is a clean ship before she is allowed to berth or the passengera or crew are allowed to •land. No vessel shall be allowed t-o berth at any wharf until a period of five days has elapsed from the date of her departure from the last port of call.

In the ease of coastal ships or vessels j arriving from overseas or Australian ports with influenza aboard, berthing shall not be allowed until after the exI piry of a similar 'period and after I patients and contacts have been removed and the vessel fumigated. Mr. Hilliard mentioned that the letter i also indicated that the meeting was called at the instance of the local Disputes Committee, Wellington, on account of the .peculiar circumstances that had I arisen through the passengers and crew being allowed to land in some cases three or four days before the vessels were worked. The proposal not to allow the passengers and crew to land for a period of five days was far more effective than the present regulations -which allowed the shipping companies to land the passengers and crew immediately after the arrival of the vessel. The "position in regard to the coastal vessels had not been altered, with the exception that the Health Department would make an examination of all the passengers and crew detained on a vessel with influenza once, and possibly twice, a day. The I sa_ie regulation applied to vessels arrivimg from ©vereeas and Australian ports.