QUARANTINE. Description of vessels within Quarantine Act. 29 & 30 Vict. c. 90, ss. 51, 52. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, Sch. V., Part III.-Every vessel having on board any person affected with a dangerous or infectious disorder shall be deemed to be within the provisions of the Act of the 6 Geo. IV. c. 78, although such vessel has not commenced her voyage, or has come from or is bound for some place in the United Kingdom. Also penalties under that Act may be reduced by the justices or court having jurisdiction in respect thereof. Order of Local Government Board dated 17th July, 1873.-Under the 29 & 30 Vict. c. 90, sect. 52, an Order was issued by the Local Government Board as follows: To all Urban, Rural, and Port Sanitary Authorities; To all Officers of Customs; To all Masters of Ships; And to all others whom it may concern. Whereas the Lords of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, by an Order bearing date the 29th day of July, 1871, after reciting certain provisions of an Act passed in the 6th year of the reign of His Majesty King George IV. c. 78, and of the Sanitary Act, 1866, and further that cholera was then prevailing in certain parts of Continental Europe with which this country had communication, and that it was requisite to take precaution, as far as practicable, against the introduction of that disease into this country, did make certain rules, orders, and regulations in respect thereof, and by certain other orders bearing date respectively the 3rd and 5th days of August, 1871, did make further regulations : And whereas under and by virtue of the Local Government Board Act, 1871, all powers and duties vested in and imposed on Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council by (among others) the said Sanitary Act, 1866, were, as regards England and Wales, transferred to and imposed on the Local Government Board: And whereas cholera is now prevalent in certain parts of Continental Europe with which this country has communication, and it is expedient that the said rules, orders, and regulations should be rescinded, and other rules, orders, and regulations substituted in their place: Now therefore we, the Local Government Board, do hereby rescind all such rules, orders, and regulations in the above-recited orders contained, except in so far as they apply to Scotland, or may apply to any proceedings now pending, and we do hereby order as follows: Art. 1.-In this Order: Definitions. The term "ship" includes vessel or boat: The term "Officer of Customs" includes any person having authority from the Commissioners of Customs: The term “Master" includes the officer or person for the time being in charge or command of a ship; The term "Cholera " includes choleraic diarrhoea; The term "Sanitary Authority" has the same meaning as in the Public The term " Clothing and Bedding" includes all clothing and bedding For the purposes of this Order, every ship shall be deemed infected with cholera in which there is or has been during the voyage, or during the stay of such ship in a foreign port in the course of such voyage, any case of cholera. I.-Regulations as to Customs Inspection. Art. 2.-If any officer of Customs, on the arrival within the limits of any port in England of any ship, ascertains from the master of such ship or A.D. 1875. A.D. 1875. otherwise, or has reason to suspect, that the ship is infected with cholera, he may detain such ship, and order the master forthwith to moor or anchor the same; and thereupon the master shall forthwith moor or anchor the ship in such position as such officer of Customs shall direct. Art. 3. Whilst such ship shall be so detained, no person shall leave the same. Art. 4.-The officer of Customs detaining any ship as aforesaid shall forthwith give notice thereof, and of the cause of such detention, to the Port Sanitary Authority, if there be one, or otherwise to the Sanitary Authority of the district within which the ship shall be detained. Art. 5. Such detention by the officer of Customs shall cease as soon as the said ship shall have been duly visited and examined by the proper officer of the Sanitary Authority; or, if the ship shall, upon such examination, be found to be infected with cholera, as soon as the same shall be anchored or moored in pursuance of Art. 9 of this Order. Provided that if the examination be not commenced within twelve hours after notice given as aforesaid, the ship shall, on the expiration of the said twelve hours, be released from detention. II.-Regulations as to Sanitary Authorities. Art. 6. The Port or other Sanitary Authority at every port shall, as speedily as practicable, with the approval of the chief Officer of Customs of such port, fix some place or places within the said port where any ship may be detained, moored, or anchored, for the purpose of these regulations. Art. 7.-Any officer appointed by such Sanitary Authority to see to the carrying out of this Order, if he have reason to believe that any ship arriving within the district of such authority, whether examined by the officer of Customs or not, is infected with cholera, or shall have come from a place infected with cholera, may visit and examine such ship, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is so infected; and the master of such ship shall suffer the same to be so visited and examined. Art. 8.-The Sanitary Authority, on notice being given to them by an officer of Customs, under this Order, shall forthwith cause the ship in regard to which such notice shall have been given, to be visited and examined by their Medical Officer of Health, or some other legally qualified medical practitioner, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is infected with cholera. Art. 9.-The master of every ship which is infected with cholera shall, after any such examination as aforesaid, as long as the ship is within the district of a Sanitary Authority, moor or anchor her in such position as from time to time the said authority shall direct. Art. 10.-No person shall leave any such ship until the examination hereinafter mentioned shall have been made. Art. 11.-The Sanitary Authority shall, as soon as possible after the arrival of any such ship, cause all persons on board of the same to be examined by their Medical Officer of Health, or some other legally qualified medical practitioner, and shall permit all persons who shall not be certified by him, as hereinafter mentioned, to land immediately. Art. 12.-Every person certified by the Medical Officer of Health or medical practitioner making such examination to be suffering from cholera shall be dealt with under any rules that may have been made by the Sanitary Authority under the 29th section of the Sanitary Act, 1866, or, where no such rules shall have been made, shall be removed, if the condition of the patient admit of it, to some hospital or place previously appointed for such purpose by the said authority; and no person so removed shall leave such hospital or place until the Medical Officer of Health of the Authority, or some other legally qualified medical practitioner appointed by them, shall have certified that such person is free from the said disease. If any person suffering from cholera cannot be removed, the ship shall remain subject, for the purposes of this Order, to the control of the Medical Officer of Health, or some other legally qualified medical practitioner appointed by the said authority; and the infected person shall not be removed from or leave the ship except with the consent in writing of the Medical Officer of Health or other medical practitioner. Art. 13.-Such Medical Officer of Health or medical practitioner shall give directions and take such steps as may appear to him to be necessary for preventing the spread of the infection, and the master of the said ship shall forthwith carry into execution such directions as shall be given to him by such officer or practitioner. Art. 14.-Any person certified by such Medical Officer of Health or medical practitioner as aforesaid to be suffering from any diarrhoeal or other illness which he may suspect to be cholera, may either be detained on board the ship or taken to some hospital or other previously appointed place, and detained there, for any period not exceeding two days, until it be ascertained whether the illness is or is not cholera. Any such person who, while so detained, shall be certified by the Medical Officer of Health or medical practitioner to be suffering from cholera shall be dealt with as in the above article relating to patients suffering from that disease. Art. 15.-In the event of any death from cholera taking place on board of such vessels while so detained, the master shall cause the dead body to be taken out to sea, and committed to the deep, properly loaded to prevent its rising. Art. 16.-The master shall cause the clothing and bedding of every person who may have suffered from cholera on board such vessel, or who, having at any time been on board such vessel, shall have suffered from cholera during the stay of such vessel in a foreign port, to be disinfected or (if necessary) destroyed; and if the master shall have neglected to do so before the ship arrives in port, he shall forthwith, or upon the direction of the said authority, cause the same to be disinfected or destroyed as the case may require; and if the said master neglect to comply with such direction within a reasonable time, the authority shall cause the same to be carried into execution. Art. 17.—The master shall cause every part of the ship, and every article therein, other than those last described, which may probably be infected with cholera, to be disinfected or destroyed, when required to do so by the said authority, or by their Medical Officer of Health. NOTICE.-The Statute 35 & 36 Vict. c. 79, provides in section 52 that "any person wilfully neglecting, or refusing to obey or carry out or obstructing the execution of any rule, order, or regulation made by the Local Government Board under section 52 of the Sanitary Act, 1866, shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction before two justices, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds." A.D. 1875. orders. 135. All regulations and orders so made by the Local Publication of Government Board shall be published in the London regulations and Gazette, and such publication shall be conclusive evidence thereof for all purposes. Mode of proving certain documents.-By the Documentary Evidence Act, 1868, 31 & 32 Vict. c. 37, s. 2, primâ facie evidence of any proclamation, order, or regulation issued before or after the passing of that Act by Her Majesty, or by the Local Government Board, may be given in all Courts of Justice, and in all legal proceedings whatsoever, in all or any of the following modes, that is to say: (1.) By the production of a copy of the Gazette purporting to contain (2.) By the production of a copy of such proclamation, order, or regula- Any copy or extract made in pursuance of the Act may be in print or D., s. 7. A.D. 1875. Local autho rity to see to the execution of regulations. D., ss. 8, 9. Power of entry. D., s. 4. Poor law entitled to costs on board vessels. in writing, or partly in print and partly in writing, and no proof shall be required of the handwriting or official position of any person certifying, in pursuance of the Act, to the truth of any copy of or extract from any order, or regulation. Punishment of Forgery. 31 & 32 Vict. c. 37, s. 4.-If any person commits any of the offences following, that is to say : (1.) Prints any copy of any order, or regulation, which falsely purports to have been printed by the Government printer, or tenders in evidence any copy of any order or regulation which falsely purports to have been so printed, knowing that the same was not so printed; or, (2.) Forges or tenders in evidence, knowing the same to have been forged, any certificate by the Act authorized to be annexed to a copy of or extract from any order, or regulation; he shall be guilty of felony, and shall on conviction be liable to be sentenced to penal servitude for such term as is prescribed by the Penal Servitude Act, 1864, as the least term to which an offender can be sentenced to penal servitude, (i.e. five years, 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 5), or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour. 136. The local authority of any district within which or part of which regulations so issued by the Local Government Board are declared to be in force, shall superintend and see to the execution thereof, and shall appoint and pay such medical or other officers or persons, and do and provide all such acts matters and things as may be necessary for mitigating any such disease, or for superintending or aiding in the execution of such regulations, or for executing the same, as the case may require. Moreover, the local authority may from time to time direct any prosecution or legal proceedings for or in respect of the wilful violation or neglect of any such regulation. 137. The local authority and their officers shall have power of entry on any premises or vessel for the purpose of executing or superintending the execution of any regulations so issued by the Local Government Board as aforesaid. 138. Whenever, in compliance with any regulation so medical officer issued by the Local Government Board as aforesaid, any of attendance poor law medical officer performs any medical service on board any vessel he shall be entitled to charge extra for such service, at the general rate of his allowance for services for the union or place for which he is appointed; and such charges shall be payable by the captain of such vessel on behalf of the owners thereof, together with any reasonable expenses for the treatment of the sick. D., s. 12. Where such services are rendered by any medical practitioner who is not a poor law medical officer, he shall be entitled to charges for any service rendered on board, with extra remuneration on account of distance, at the same rate as those which he is in the habit of receiving from private patients of the class of those attended and treated on shipboard, to be paid as aforesaid. In case of A.D. 1875. dispute in respect to such charges, such dispute may, where the charges do not exceed twenty pounds, be determined by a court of summary jurisdiction; and such court shall determine summarily the amount which is reasonable, according to the accustomed rate of charge within the place where the dispute arises for attendance on patients of the like class as those in respect of whom the charge is made. Medical charges.-It will in many cases be impracticable for the medical officer to regulate his charge for such attendance in accordance with the scale of payment which he receives from the union or parish. With very few exceptions, the medical officers are paid by annual salaries for their attendance on the sick poor and the supply of medicines, and it is therefore manifestly impossible for them to regulate their charge for the casual services to be rendered to sick persons on board vessels by their rate of allowance from the union or parish. A distinction is made between a medical man who is a union or parish medical officer and one who is not. The medical officer is restricted in his charges; at any rate the intention evidently was to restrict him to charge no more than he would be paid by the guardians if the persons on whom he attends on board ship were paupers; on the other hand, the Act enables the medical practitioner who is not a union or parish medical officer to charge for any service rendered on board ship, with extra remuneration on account of distance, at the same rate as he is in the habit of receiving from private patients of the class of those attended and treated on shipboard, to be paid by the captain on account of the owners; he is to be paid at the same rate as he is "in the habit of receiving, &c.;" therefore it will be for the medical attendant in case of dispute to prove what rate of payment he is in the habit of receiving from the class of persons referred to; at the same time, it will be observed from what follows, that the justices are empowered to determine summarily as to the amount which is reasonable, according to the accustomed rate of charges for attendance on patients of the like class. local autho 139. The Local Government Board may, if they think Local Governfit, by order authorize or require any two or more local ment Board authorities to act together for the purposes of the provisions may combine of this Act relating to prevention of epidemic diseases, and rities. may prescribe the mode of such joint action and of defray- San. 1866, s. ing the costs thereof. 140. Any person who (1.) Wilfully violates any regulation so issued by the Local Government Board as aforesaid; or, 40. Penalty for violating or obstructing the execution of D., s. 14. (2.) Wilfully obstructs any person acting under the regulations. authority or in the execution of any such regulation, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. MORTUARIES, &c. 141. Any local authority may, and if required by the Power of local Local Government Board shall, provide and fit up a proper provide morauthority to place for the reception of dead bodies before interment (in tuaries. |