Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: British West Indian Conference on Quarantine, 1888. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
215/254 page 207
![of an infectious disease: afterwards ■we changed the definition of what an infected vessel wonld be and put a penalty on the Master for allowing it. That is the reason for it. Mr. BERKELEY : It is very neces- sary. Dr. grieve : That is clear. In each section Except with the permission of the Quarantine Authority was inserted in place of Except in accordance with regulation, &c. Penalty on Person landing when suf- fering from Contagious or Infectious Disease. Penalty on Person Aiding any Person to Land when suffering from Contagious or Infectious Disease. (Page 68.) The PRESIDENT: These and the following are the sections which Mr. Low proposed should go in. I ask you to look at it carefully. I have re-d]*afted it, because although I think I saw the meaning of the other sections some were not very clear—the heading to them was Landing from an infected place, whereas Mr. Low's great object was that no person should land at all. Mr. low : I think the marginal notes were wrong. That was found when we were amending the Ordinance. It was found that these marginal notes were misleading. The PRESIDENT : Misleading in St. Lucia. Mr. low : Yes, and they were to be altered. Dr. grieve : If a vessel made the coast here and sent a boat to make in- quiries—he would be guilty of an offence under the Quarantine Ordinance. We should have to put the whole machinery constantly in motion up at Skeldon, where there is daily landing from Surinam. The PRESIDENT: Then it must be local; if we find they cannot work, we cannot act upon them. Mr. SANDERSON: It will be more honoured in the breach than the observ- ance. It very often happens in St. Lucia that vessels bring people from Martinique and leave them on the beach. Mr. LOW: It is a question which happens there nearly every month. A person with his traps is suddenly found one morning by the Coastguard, and nobody knows where he came from. We want to punish him. Dr. grieve : At any hour of the day we may have people from another colony landing on our shores. We have Venezuela on one side and Surinam on the other. It would be utterly unwork- able here. The PRESIDENT: Tthink we must take it out of the law here. Mr. BERKELEY (to the Delegate from the Windward Islands) : Put it under your Customs Act. Mr. LOW: Oh, we can pass a short Act. Resolved that the proposed sections should be struck out of the general Ordinance, and that any colony might adopt the provisions if thought necessary. Mr. BERKELEY: I think it is rather hard on consignees and agents that we should give Quarantine Authorities power to decide that the consignees and agents are to reimburse the colony. It should be left to the persons. Mr. SANDERSON: They will recover from the persons. Mr. BERKELEY : As a matter of fact a man may be sent against his own will. Put in agents if you like, but leave out consignee. The president : We can put it in. Each colony will take its own course. Mr. SANDERSON : I would suggest we say owner, master, or agent of any vessel. The president : For the recovery before some Court of competent juris- diction. The draftsman will say to which Court it is to be. I think myself it is rather too stringent a power to prevent a vessel coming in, and saying if she does not go out, then these things shall be dealt with. The greatest power we had in our Ordinance in 1884, was, where in the opinion of the Executive or the Quar- antine Authority it was dangerous to the public health to allow persons, things, cargo, or stores from such vessel to be brought in. It was a strong provision, but it might be necessary. Supposing you had a cargo of rags.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21297678_0215.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
