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Gilbert and Ellice (Quarantine) Regulation 1909

UNITED KINGDOM

[L.S.]

EVERARD IM THURN.

GILBERT AND ELLICE (QUARANTINE) REGULATION, 1909

No. 6 of 1909

KING'S REGULATION

TO PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
INTO THE GILBERT AND ELLICE ISLANDS.


Made by His Britannic Majesty's High Commissioner for the Western Pacific under the provisions of the Pacific Order in Council, 1893.

In the name of His Majesty, EDWARD VII., of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.

Short title.
l. This Regulation may be cited as the Gilbert and Ellice (Quarantine) Regulation, 1909.

Interpretation.
2. In the Regulation, unless the subject or contest otherwise require, -

"the Group" means the islands comprised in the Protectorates established by His Majesty in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands;

"health officer" means the Resident Commissioner, or any person appointed by him to act as health officer under this Regulation;

"vessel in quarantine" means any vessel which has not been admitted to pratique, or which has been placed in quarantine, under the provisions of this Regulation;

"communicable disease" means any contagious or infectious disease, and includes cholera, small-pox, scarlet fever, scarlatina, oriental plague, enteric or typhoid fever, typhus fever, yellow fever, measles, and any disease of such a nature as to make it uncertain whether it is one of the aforesaid diseases or not;

"port of entry" means any place in the Protectorate that may be declared by the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific by proclamation to be a port at which a vessel may enter the Group, and shall include Tarawa, Butaritari, and Ocean Islands, in the Gilbert Group, and Funafuti in the Ellice Group.


Vessels to proceed to a port of entry for pratique.
3. Every vessel entering the Group shall proceed to a port of entry and shall be deemed to be in quarantine until inspected and admitted to pratique by the health officer.

Quarantine signals.
4. Every vessel entering the Group shall, on arriving within three miles of the coast, exhibit a yellow flag at the fore by day, and a globular red light by night, until pratique shall have been given to the vessel.

Vessel to anchor where directed.
5. No vessel in quarantine shall be anchored at any place distant more than two miles from any port of entry. The vessel, if it be so directed, shall be anchored at such place as the health officer may require.

Quarantine vessel not to communicate except by signal.
6. It shall be unlawful for any communication otherwise than by signal to be had between a vessel in quarantine and any island, vessel, or place within the Group, or for a vessel in quarantine to be brought within one hundred yards of any other vessel in any harbour at any place within the Group, or for any person, except as provided for in this Regulation, to leave that vessel or to transmit any article therefrom, or for any person, except the health officer and his boat's crew, to approach within one hundred yards of a vessel in quarantine at any place within the waters of the Group.

Inquiry by health officer.
7. The health officer shall approach the vessel on the windward side, but he shall not go on board, nor grant the vessel pratique, until:-

(a) there shall have been produced to him a bill of health signed, if the vessel has arrived in the Protectorate from a foreign port by the consular officer at that port, and if the vessel has arrived from the port of a British possession by the health officer thereof, and

(b) there shall have been delivered to him a copy of the schedule hereto, with the questions therein contained answered in writing and signed by the master and by the surgeon (if any) of the vessel. The master and surgeon shall answer the aforesaid questions upon oath, or not upon oath, as the health officer may require.


Communicable disease to be reported to health officer.
8. Every master or surgeon of a vessel, having thereon at any time a person affected by a communicable disease, who shall fail to declare the same by the first opportunity to the health officer, or who shall attempt to conceal from the health officer any person so affected, or who shall refuse or fail, at the request of the health officer, to bring every person on board the vessel before him for inspection, and the master of any vessel who, on the demand of the health officer, shall fail or refuse to produce for inspection by him the log-book or journal of the vessel, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Communicable disease to be reported to master by surgeon.
9. Any surgeon of a vessel who shall fail to inform the master thereof the existence of any communicable disease on board the vessel, and who shall knowingly allow the introduction of that disease into any port or place in the Group, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Answering falsely.
10. Any person on board any vessel in quarantine or otherwise, who shall refuse to answer, or shall answer falsely or evasively, any question contained in the schedule hereto, or such other questions as may be put to him by the health officer, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Health officer may set apart quarantine station.
11. The health officer may, if he so deem expedient, appropriate or set apart, either permanently or temporarily, any place or vessel as a quarantine station, where any person, cargo, or baggage may be landed and detained, or where any vessel may be anchored in quarantine, and may also temporarily place in quarantine any place or places required for the passage of any person, or of any boat or vessel, from any vessel or place in quarantine to any other vessel or place in quarantine.

Health officer may fix limits of quarantine station.
12.-(1) The health officer, in any case in which he deems it necessary, may determine a place or places at any greater distance than one hundred yards from any vessel in quarantine, or from the boundary of any quarantine station, at which guard-posts or guard-boats shall be stationed or warning-signals displayed. At each guard-post or guard-boat, and for every warning-signal, a red flag shall be used by day and a green light by night.

(2) Any person, except the health officer, entering the space enclosed by the guard-posts, guard-boats, or warning-signals, shall, if it be thought necessary by the health officer, be detained in quarantine and shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Visiting parties.
13.-(1) A visiting party, under the charge of the health officer, flying a red flag by day or displaying a red light by night, may proceed as often as necessary as far as the boundary of the quarantine station, or as far as one hundred yards from a vessel in quarantine, or, subject to the direction of the health officer, to any safe or convenient spot at or near low water, in order to convey any communication to and fro and any provisions, or other necessaries, required by those in quarantine, and shall leave the same in some safe place, to be approved by the health officer, so that the persons in quarantine way procure the provisions or necessaries after the visiting party shall leave retired a distance of at least one hundred yards.

(2) Any person in quarantine who shall approach or remain within one hundred yards of any of a visiting party, and any of the visiting party who shall approach or remain within the same distance of any person in quarantine, and any person who shall send or take away from a place used as a quarantine station, or from any vessel or boat in quarantine, any article that has not previously been disinfected as prescribed by the health officer, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Vessels in the Group may be placed in quarantine.
14.-(1) When the health officer shall from any cause believe that a communicable disease exists in any portion of the Group, and that any vessel other than those coming from beyond the Group should be placed in quarantine, it shall be lawful for him to direct that vessel to be placed in quarantine.

(2) The vessel shall thereupon display a yellow flag by day and a globular red light by night, and shall thenceforth be dealt with under this Regulation as if she were a vessel coming from beyond the Group and place in quarantine.

(3) The vessel may be ordered to proceed to any port of entry to perform quarantine.

Signals to be exhibited at quarantine station.
15.-(1) When any quarantine station is in use for quarantine a yellow flag shall be kept continuously flying at some conspicuous place on the station from sunrise to sunset, and from sunset to sunrise a red light shall be exhibited in a like place thereon.

(2) The display of the yellow flag or red light shall be deemed sufficient notice that the station, and the land or sea surrounding it to the distance of one hundred yards, or (if guard-posts, guard-boats, or warning-signals have been placed round the quarantine station) that the land and sea from the station up to the guard-posts, guard-boats, or warning-signals, are in quarantine.

Breaking quarantine.
16. Every person who, being subjected to quarantine, shall, on any pretence, leave any quarantine station or any vessel, boat, or place in quarantine, before he shall have been admitted to pratique by the health officer, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Provided that it shall be lawful for the health officer to permit any person to leave quarantine, under such precautions as he may consider necessary, in order to go on board any vessel that has cleared outwards to leave the Group.

17. A vessel receiving on board a person so permitted to leave quarantine as in the last preceding section provided, or having any communication with that person, shall thenceforth be treated as a vessel in quarantine and shall, until clear of the Group, display quarantine signals.

Embarking in vessel in quarantine.
18.-(1) Nothing in this Regulation shall prevent any person from embarking in any vessel when in quarantine for the purpose of being a passenger therein or one of the officers or crew thereof.

(2) No person who has embarked in a vessel for either of the purposes mentioned in the last preceding subsection shall quit that vessel, or communicate otherwise than by signal with the shore or any other vessel in any harbour or roadstead in the Group respectively, while the vessel first mentioned remains in quarantine.

(3) Every person so embarking who shall fail to obey any directions and orders which he shall receive in retard to the embarkation from the officer of police, or other officer, appointed to direct the due observance of quarantine at any place or quarantine station, shall be guilty of an offence against this Regulation.

Entering quarantine station through ignorance.
19. If any person shall, through ignorance, stress of weather, or other accident, land upon, or approach within one hundred yards of, any quarantine station when occupied for quarantine purposes, or within one hundred yards of any boat or vessel in quarantine, or proceed within the space enclosed by any guard-boats, guard-posts, or warning signals, he shall be detained in quarantine at his own expense until he can safely be liberated by the health officer.

Health officer's crew.
20. All persons belonging to the boat of the health officer who have been on board any vessel, either when the vessel was in quarantine or immediately before the vessel was placed in quarantine, shall remain on board the vessel, return thither, or proceed to a quarantine station, as may be directed by the health officer.

Cargo and passengers in quarantined
21. In the event of the health officer not providing a quarantine station where passengers and cargo may be landed, it shall be lawful for any vessel in quarantine to leave the Group with its passengers and cargo, notwithstanding that the passengers and cargo may have been received on board for the purpose of being landed or transhipped within the Group.

Vessels in quarantine to wait for health officer.
22. In the event of a vessel in quarantine arriving at any port of entry during the temporary absence of the health officer, the vessel shall be and remain in quarantine until his return and for such further period as he may direct.

Luggage and cargo may be disinfected.
23.-(1) Before releasing any person, cargo, or vessel from quarantine, the health officer may require that all personal effects, cargo, or the vessel, be disinfected in such manner as he may direct.

(2) All expenses incurred in the landing of any persons or cargo in quarantine, in the maintenance of persons in quarantine, and in disinfecting cargo, effects, or the vessel, shall be borne by the master and owners of the vessel, and the health officers may require security to his satisfaction for those expenses before allowing any person, effects, or cargo, to be placed in a quarantine station, or before admitting any vessel to pratique.

Penalty.
24. Any person omitting to do anything required by this Regulation, or doing, or aiding, abetting, or advising the doing of anything prohibited by this Regulation, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both punishments.

Duration of quarantine.
25. The duration of any period of quarantine imposed under this Regulation shall in no case exceed the periods of observation permitted under the stipulations of the Paris Sanitary Convention, 1903. In respect of cases not provided for in that Convention, the period of quarantine to be undergone shall be governed by the regulations for the time being in force in the Commonwealth of Australia.

________________

SCHEDULE

Questions.
Answers.














































Signature of Master.

Signature of Surgeon
What is the name of the vessel?
To what port does she belong?
Whence do you come?
When did you quit your port of lading?
To what places are you bound?
At what ports or places have you touched on your voyage since you left the port of lading, and on what dates did you quit each of those places?
What vessels have you had intercourse or communication with on your passage, and on what dates, and whence did they come, and what was the nature of the communication?
Did any infectious or contagious diseases exist at the places from which such vessels came?
Did any infectious or contagious disease exist at or in the vicinity of the place whence you sailed, or on board any vessel with which you had personal intercourse or communication on your passage, or at any of the places at which you have touched?
Are there any person on board your ship affected with any infectious or contagious disease, or has any person died or been ill of a disease of that nature during the voyage?
And (if any) what number? And if any have died or been ill of a disease were their bedding and clothes destroyed?
What number of officers, mariners, and passengers have you on board?
Have you any, and what Bill of Health?
Date


Published and exhibited in the Public Office of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific this fifteenth day of November 1909.

By Command,


A. MONTGOMERIE,
Secretary to His Britannic Majesty's High Commissioner
for the Western Pacific.
______________


© 1998 University of the South Pacific

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