between decks shall be swept, and the sweepings burnt; that search shall be made in the lockers, chests, and repositories of the officers and crew, and such places shall be daily opened and aired; and that a daily report shall be made of the state of health of the persons on board, and the compliance with the regulations. It also gives directions as to persons falling sick on board, and patients under suspicious circumstances, and as to the mode of removing persons on the disorder discovering itself, and under what regulations persons, requiring it, may have medical assistance from on shore; and that all medical persons communicating by contact with the sick, shall perform quarantine; also under what restrictions and regulations, and how soon the pilot may leave the ship; it also allows persons desirous of it, under certain restrictions, to perform quarantine for 30 days in a separate vessel at their own expence; it also requires the quarantine of any ship, in case of any pestilential accident, to re-commence, the sick being removed to the hospital ship or pest-house. All persons performing quarantine in the lazaret at Chetney-Hill shall perform it for the same time and in the same manner as those who perform in such separate vessels. The baggage, wearing apparel, and every other article belonging to persons on board, to be sent to the lazaret at Chetney-Hill to be aired, and the persons, their clothes, &c. to be fumigated before discharge from quarantine. It also directs when the airing shall commence, and in what manner it shall be done; also the articles to be removed, and the mode of expurgation; also when, after the removal of such goods, the quarantine shall commence, and how long it shall last; when and under what regulations dried fruits, grain, seeds, &c. may be delivered; the time when the quarantine is to be computed from in certain cases, and in other cases; and directs that vessels arriving with suspected bills shall be treated as vessels without clean bills, except as to ten days less performance of quarantine. Also gives directions as to vessels coming from certain places where is no regular establishment for quarantine; requiring a declaration whether the cargo is the produce of such place, and if not, the bill of health of the ship having brought the same to such place; and such vessel shall not be liable to perform quarantine. It also directs what quarantine vessels and their cargoes, from the Mediterranean, shall perform, having been under quarantine at Malta, &c.; also that an abstract of such quarantine regulations as thought necessary shall be given to masters of vessels clearing outwards, to be placed up in the same con spicuously until its return, if within twelve months; and requires such masters to take the quarantine signals out with them; also requires his majesty' s ships of war, meeting a vessel, to prevent the landing of goods until its arrival at the place of quarantine; and that the officers shall use their utmost care to enforce the due observance of the quarantine regulations; and lastly, that all commanders of ships of war, forts, &c., and all justices of the peace, mayors, bailiffs, &c. shall assist in bringing vessels liable to quarantine to the places appointed for the performance thereof. Such is a brief outline of the leading provisions of the orders in council. For a more particular account of them, the reader is referred to the Appendix at the end of this work. A particular provision has been made, with regard to vessels coming from the West Indies with the yellow fever, by the statute 46 Geo. 3. c. 98. which enacts that it shall be lawful for his majesty by his order in council, or for the members of the privy council, or any three or more of them, by their order, from time to time, as often as they see reason to apprehend that the yellow fever or other highly infectious disorder prevails in America or the West Indies, to require every vessel coming from those parts to come to anchor at places appointed by the commissioners of customs, in order that the state of health of the crew may ascertained before the vessel comes to port; but such a ship is not to be deemed liable to perform quarantine, unless that restraint be particularly imposed upon it. (1) be near Great Bri of quarantine rity to be given before departur of vessel when laws; and secu The orders made by the king in council concerning the per- Special cases of formance of quarantine are in general either notified by royal infection in or proclamation, or published in the London Gazette (2). Other tain; relaxations orders also, which are not published in this manner, are occasionally issued by the privy council, to enforce the performance of quarantine in instances to which pre-existing orders do not extend, or to relax their operation when a less degree of rigour plague in Great becomes expedient. The statute 45 Geo. 3., in providing for Britain, &c. circumstances of this nature, declares that it shall be lawful for his majesty's privy council to make such order as they shall deem necessary upon any unforeseen emergency, or in any par (1) 46 Geo. 3. c. 98. s. 6. (2) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 33. See the orders in the Appendix. ticular case, with respect to a vessel arriving with an infectious disease, or on board of which an infectious disease has appeared in the course of the voyage, or arriving under any other alarming or suspicious circumstances as to infection, although the vessel has not come from a place from which his majesty in council has declared it probable that an infectious disorder may be brought; or, in the event of an infectious disease appearing in Great Britain or the British islands, to make such orders and give such directions, in order to cut off all communication between any persons infected with such disease and the rest of his majesty's subjects, as they shall think necessary. The privy council is also empowered to make such orders as shall be deemed expedient for shortening the time of quarantine to be performed by particular vessels, or particular persons or goods, or for wholly releasing particular vessels, or particular persons or goods, from quarantine, absolutely or conditionally, and generally to mitigate the strict performance of quarantine in particular cases, as special circumstances shall appear in their judgment to require; and an order of the privy council so made will be as effectual as any order of his majesty in council, notified by proclamation or published in the London Gazette (1). If it should at any time happen that any part of Great Britain or Ireland, or of the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, or Man, or of France, Spain, Portugal, or the Low Countries, is visited with an infectious disorder, his majesty is empowered to issue his proclamation to prohibit all small boats and vessels under the burthen of 20 tons from sailing out of Great Britain, or of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, or Man, until security be first given by the master to the satisfaction of the principal officer of the customs, or the chief magistrate of the port, by bond to the king, with sufficient sureties, in the penalty of £300; conditioned that it shall not touch at any place to be mentioned for that purpose in the proclamation; and that neither the master, nor any mariner or passenger, shall go on board of any other vessel at sea; and also that the master shall not allow any persons to come on board the vessel at sea from any other ship, and shall not receive any goods on board out of any other vessel. In default of the requisite security being given, the ship and her tackle are forfeited to the crown; and the master, as well as every mariner, is liable to a penalty of £20. (2) (1) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 12. (2) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 32. The master of the vessel is obliged, whenever he meets another ship at sea, or arrives within four leagues of the coast, to hoist signals, to notify that he is liable to the performance of quarantine (1). A failure of his duty in this respect exposes him to a penalty of £200; and a penalty to the same amount is also incurred by hoisting the quarantine flag on a ship not liable to perform quarantine (2). A particular signal is directed to be used on board of vessels having clean bills of health (3); a different one by vessels which are unprovided with these documents (4); and a third species of signal by vessels having the plague or other infectious distemper actually on board (5). On the arrival of a vessel from foreign parts, the master is bound to deliver to the pilot a written paper, containing a true account of the places at which the vessel has loaded or touched on the homeward voyage, under a penalty of £200. The pilot is bound, under a penalty of £50, to give notice to the master of the liability to perform quarantine, and thereupon the master is to hoist the appropriate signal (6). A pilot who conducts a vessel liable to perform quarantine into a place not specially appointed for its reception, is liable to a penalty of £100 (7). The master of the vessel is also bound before he enters the port, under a penalty of £200, to give a true answer in writing, or otherwise, and upon oath or not upon oath, according as he shall be required by the superintendant or his assistant, or other officer of the customs, to all such questions as shall be put to him in pursuance of the directions of any order in council (8). And any pilot or master of a vessel, whether liable to perform quarantine or not, who neglects to bring to according to the requisition of the quarantine officer, is liable to forfeit £100 (9). In the case of The King v. Morgan, which was tried at the Gloucester summer assizes, 1814, the pilot of a vessel which had arrived from Oporto was convicted in a penalty of £100, for having refused to bring to, on the application of the quarantine officer, in going up the river Severn towards Gloucester; and though it appeared that the vessel had been lying to a little lower down in the river, and the particular place where the order (1) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 14. (2) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 15. (3) For the definition of these documents, see ante, 66. (4) Id. ibid. (6) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 16. (8) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 18. See Duty of the master and pilot. Goods not to be was given was such that it could not be immediately complied with; and though the officer went on board, examined the papers, and ascertained that the vessel did not require to be put under quarantine; yet the court held that the defendant was not excused by these circumstances, but that he was bound to bring to as soon after receiving the order as was compatible with a due regard to the safety of the vessel (1). If upon the examination it should appear that the vessel is liable to perform quarantine, and that the port at which it arrives, or into which it attempts to enter, is not appropriated for its reception, the officers of his majesty's ships of war, as well as the officers of the king's forts or garrisons, and all other persons in their assistance, are required to oblige the ship to repair to the appointed place, and to use the necessary means for that purpose, by firing upon it, or by any other kind of force. And if the vessel comes from or has touched at an infected place, or has an infected person on board, and a master acquainted with either of these circumstances omits to make the necessary disclosure, or wilfully omits to hoist the appropriate signal to denote that his vessel is liable to perform quarantine, he will be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy (2). The master is also required by law, immediately after his arrival at the place appointed for the performance of quarantine, to deliver his bill of health and manifest, together with his log-book and journal; a demand of which documents is made by the quarantine officer (3). The importance of the bill of health, which is a certificate from the consul at the foreign port, consists in his notifying the state of the country from which the vessel sailed. When a vessel which has performed quarantine in a foreign lazaret arrives in this country with a clean bill of health, no goods are allowed to be landed, or moved in order to be landed; but the master immediately upon his arrival must give notice thereof, and of the foreign port at which the vessel has performed quarantine, to the principal officer of the customs, in order that the directions of the privy council may be obtained upon the subject; and a penalty of £200 attaches on the violation of this enactment. (4) (1) Pope, tit. 7. r. 17. note c. 46 Geo. 3. c. 98. s. 3. (2) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 19. and see s. 41. as to mode of arrest by judge's warrant; regulations of proceedings; and sec. 24. as to seizing persons having quitted ves sels. Other felonies, s. 13. 26, 27. 30, 31. (3) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 20. Penalty 100l. for wilful neglect. See for the definition and use of the bills of health, ante, 66. (4) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. s. 22. |