Defective vision in Mercantile Marine Service : the new regulations for testing eyesight.

  • Leet, Charles Henry, 1836-1907.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Defective vision in Mercantile Marine Service : the new regulations for testing eyesight. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    recommendation for the appointment of a responsible Medical Adviser at the head-quarters, Marine Department, Board of Trade, thus:— “ It would do no harm if, as Mr. Leet suggests in his letter to us, some responsible adviser, “ some professional head analogous to the Director-General of the Medical Department of the “Army, and of the Royal Navy, were appointed, whose business it should be to see that the “recommendations and orders of the Board of Trade on this point are carried out, and to whom “ all complaints might be referred. This appointment would not enable the railway companies “to shirk their responsibility on the ground that the State certificate superseded their own duties, “ as Mr. Bryce thought would occur if the tests were applied by a Government official. It would “ simply ensure that the provisions for the safety of the travelling public were duly enforced.” True story of unblushing evasions, for years, of H.M. Board of Trade Official Instructions to Ship-Surgeons in the case of one of the foremost Shipping Companies in the world. Extracted from Truth’s article, “ Doctors at Sea,” 24th August, 1893. * * * “ The important point is that the doctor should be in direct communication with the “ Board. As a matter of theory, under the present Acts the ship’s surgeon is supposed to report to “ the Board of Trade; but how this theory works in practice is shown in the pamphlet of Mr. “ Charles Leet, to which I have referred above. In their orders to ship’s surgeons in the “Atlantic passenger trade, the Board of Trade request a report at the end of each voyage on “ certain specified points, among others the following:— “ Has the ship been Disinfected ? (after any cases of infectious or contagious disease.) “ Was the Ventilation sufficient? If not, state where it was defective. “ Were any Complaints made by the emigrants? If so, state what complaints, and what “ steps were taken in each case. “ This report, the Board direct, shall be addressed to the Emigration Officer. In “ Mr. Leet’s case, the Company give their own instructions to the surgeon, purporting to “over-ride those of the Board of Trade. They direct him to furnish the Emigration Officer “ in future with “ the following particulars,” and the list which follows omits all the questions “ quoted above. Finally, as though to ensure that their instructions shall be carried out, and not “those of the Board of Trade, they order that the report shall be sent in the ship’s despatch-box “ under cover to the General Manager of the Company. Mr. Leet attempted to transmit a “ report direct to the Board, and was peremptorily ordered by the General Manager to sit down “ and write another. When one of the foremost Shipping Companies in the world acts in this “way, what is to be expected of an unscrupulous and impecunious private owner?” * * *
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