Sessional_Paper_1908 — Page 592

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Annexe P.

REPORT OF THE HEALTH OFFICER OF THE PORT.

During the year the work of this department has been carried on by Dr. JORDAN, Dr. KEYT and Dr. GRÖNE. Dr. KEYT was absent on a year's vacation leave during the greater part of the year, but resumed his duties on his return to the Colony on the 24th September last. During his absence the work was carried out by Dr. GRÖNE and myself, assisted by my partner Dr. AUBREY.

Excepting the above noted change, there has been no other in this department.

The work of this Department may be considered under three headings:-

a. The Daily Inspection of Shipping arriving in Port.

b. The Inspection of Emigrants.

c. Quarantine Duty.

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a.- -The Daily Inspection of Shipping.

This consists of the routine visiting of every ship arriving in Port between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The great bulk of the vessels arrive before 12 noon and those arriving after 6 p.m. are visited the first thing in the morning. This applies to vessels which come in "healthy", ie., not from an infected port and having no sickness on board; while "infected vessels may not come into their moorings after 6 p.m., unless they have a duly qualified surgeon on board who certifies to the freedom of the ship from any infectious disease. During the year there were 4,182 arrivals and of this number 1,876 were British and 2,306 Foreign ships. These figures allude to sea going ships only. Canton steamers are not regularly boarded except when Plague or other infectious disease is raging in that Port or when intimation reaches us of a passenger having come from any particular steamer with an infectious disease. The vessel in such circumstances is placed under quarantine regulations. Junks are not boarded by us.

For sea going vessels arriving in Port, two separate forms are provided and one or other of these must be filled up and signed on board either by the Master or Surgeon. These forms consist of (1) a form for healthy vessels arriving in Port, (2) a more elaborate one eliciting fuller particulars of the voyage and intended to apply to "suspected" or "infected "ships, i.e., ships coming from an infected port in less than 12 days or having sickness on board at the time of arrival, or having had it within the last 12 days.

b.-The Inspection of Emigrants.

This inspection is carried out with the view of preventing passengers having infectious diseases embarking on vessels leaving Port and thus endangering the health and safety of the other passengers and crew. The Health Officer is not concerned with the physical fitness of any passenger for labour, but solely to prevent any infections disease being transported. This constitutes a very important part of the duty of the Health Officer as will be seen by the figures set out in Table II. During the year there were 105,967 emigrants leaving the Port every one of whom had to be inspected.

Of these the majority

(83,048), went to the Straits Settlements, while 22,919 were for other Ports, viz., San Francisco, Vancouver, Mexico, Peru, Mauritius, etc. The emigration to Mexico and Peru is of recent date and the numbers to these Ports seem to be on the increase. Emigrants for American Ports, Mexico and Canada undergo a searching examination on board the hulk of the Disinfecting Bureau prior to embarkation on the steamers. Each man is given a disinfecting bath, his temperature taken and his clothing and personal effects are passed through the disinfecting plant under the supervision of the medical men of the various steamship companies which carry these passengers. They then embark and undergo their final examination on board by us before the steamer sails. It will be readily seen that this minimises the possibility of transportation of infective diseases. This formulary is insisted on by the Governments of the respective countries to which these emigrants proceed and is in the interests of the steamship companies, as when this is done, no quarantine is enforced on the ship unless an infectious case occurs during the voyage, and the ship thus avoids the heavy expenditure entailed in 14 days' quarantine. It is moreover much more effective.