BRITAIN’S HEALTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 36

BRITAIN’S HEALTH

GUARD WATCHES PORT OF LONDON DISEASE AND BAD FOOD London is the biggest port in the world. It is a gateway from the seven seas, and to its docks come every year thousands of vessels, with human freight from all parts of the globe, and every conceivable kind of foodstuff. How is the health of London—and through It the country—safeguarded .' How is it protected Trom sea-borne disease and bad food? A little band of medical officers and food inspectors constitute the sanitary barrier which keeps London plague-free, and ensures that only the best food reaches consumers, says “The London Daily Chcouicle.” The work of this ever vigilant guard g >es on night and day. so quietly that only those who have experienced it know how efficient is the organisation, a nd how complete is the investigation. While London sleeps, vessels are bsing boarded in the Thames miles d >wu the river, their bills of health examined, their logs scrutinised, and. v here suspicion exists, all persons on board mustered and inspected. The food inspectors submit to rigorous examination the meat, fruit, vegetables, provisions, grain and other foodstuffs which enter the docks. Where material is condemned, it is destroyed only if it cannot be used for some useful purpose. The medical supervision is so efficient that last year not a single case of infectious diseases evaded the barriet. while 6.018 tons of unsound food were destroyed. To safeguard Loudon's health and food costs about £22,000 a year; tho work is carried out by the Port Sanitary Authority. Six medical officers are on duty day and night to examine the passengers and crews of vessels arriving from overseas 12 inspectors are constantly engaged in examining every kind of foodstuffs arriving in the port. Moored off Gravesend, about 26 miles below London Bridge, is the hulk. Hygeia, an outpost, as it were, of the Authority's defences. From here a medical officer accompanies the f’ustoms officer in a motor launch, and boards all vessels on their way up the Thames. Every case of reported sickness during the voyage is examined and in-; vestigated. and in the case of certain Eastern ports, always regarded officially as “infected.” ships which have come from them are subjected to very i strict scrutiny. Vessels going up the Medway are I dealt with by a medical officer from Sheerness, who visits within 12 hours of arrival every vessel which lias come from a foreign port, and which re- j mains within the jurisdiction of the Authority. These medical officers are on the lookout for signs of plague, cholera, typhoid, smallpox or yellow fever, ! and so thorough is the organisation that the possibility of infected per-1 sons entering the country is remote. If a case of infection is detected j the sufferer is at once removed by j motor-launch to the Authority’s Isola tion Hospital on the river bank just j below Denton. Here are also taken, I

for observation, immediate "contacts.” In some cases, the names and addresses of passengers and crews are taken and forwarded to the medical officers of health of the districts to which they are proceeding. Last year there were examined; 75,501 passengers, 57,173 sailors, 14,181 aliens.

■' From these 824 cases of illness were discovered. Notorious as a plague-carrier, a rat gets short shrift. Many are the methods adopted to prevent the passage of rats between ships and shore, equally numerous are the means adopted to kill them. The Authority’s staff has “bagged” as many as 3,000 a month.