The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-10-19 00:00:00

THE PORT SANITARY AUTHORITY.

Riders In the country may sometimes wonder who and
what are the be ty that boasts the name of the Port Sant-
taey Autherity, and what they do. The Port Sanitary
Authority Ii uulike the uunieroue Urban Rural Sanitary
Authorities, whieh seem e it hin the last few years to hare
started into b lug, inasmuch as several of the so-called
urbau antheritles are nothinx less than the local boards
reiwith their names chanited in
opbedviewily establishedncetnthe ; onlydirectono
the "folks in London, —but
with whet object or advantege it is difficult to CAL The
Rural S tat tery authoritiva we most composed of the Poor
Ltiv Guardians, and tie ii work, that of caring for the
sanitary arrangements of the rural parishes, is mostly
trammeled at meting, of tho Guardians in their union&
But the Pott Siuitary .tuth city Is bone/de a new body,
aced peculiarly constituted, in that its members are sent
Prim the aothorities ellen I aeo tbe care of boroughs or
periehes which abut on the eta within the limits of the
i " port" named, and n the cue of Weymouth Port Sani-
tary the e,,,er,iinitoty placee are Weymouth,
Portland, Rtdipole, and Werke, all of which, hewing the
accident of being on the sea-aoast, are held liable to Pro-
vide for the care of sick sailors within their waters, if the
Illness of those sailors Cr, liable to endanger the
health of thme with whom they are brought into contact,
or if the poor fellows catmot obtain sufficient medical aid
on board. The " prison, with a chance of being drowned,"
is sometimes, though not frequently boarded by infection,
small pox, or fever of leveret kinds may threaten to lay
helpless the crew, and make the ship into a narrow pest-
, home, while the plan of quarantine may only render It
more difficult to give proper medical aid to the &Dieted.
Thu% in some cues. the Government have laid upon the
ports most frequented by vera-le, the duty of forming a
local authority who shall provide for 'Wore, the expense*
of dealing with each cue being Renate'', recoverable frove
the owner, of the vessel i elected. At first the Port
Sanitary Authority could only make arrangements such
as were necessary in the emergency, and sometimes it woe
deemed objectionable that patients suffering from infec-
tious diaereses should be removed to union-house hospitals,
with the danger of healthy people meeting the Infection
on their way. At length the Goveronient insisted on the
provision of • special hospital; but then arose the diffi-
culty of finding • sit for no parish wanted so objection-
able • ',eliding as an "infectious diaeasee" bomitel
their midst. Weymouth, Portland. Wyke, and Radipole,
seemed to have diverse interest,; but the Port Sanitary
Authority has worked together with etinnimity most
creditable, considering their different interests, and the
puzzle has been meet happily molted by the erection of the
hrepit al on a site, the suitability of which all must admit
Whether or no the burden ouielt t u have fallen en the
united places, does not seem quite clear; it would appear
much more just that the Iniperiel antheeity should have
provided the funds, and undertaken the Management of •
matter affecting BMWs interwts in all parts of the world.
Meantime led by Mr. Pally Hooper, the Port Sanitary
Authority have most successfully ace emplished the heavy
burden laid on them, for although workmen hays not
eltoeether left the nee hospital, yet, on iseresinal beeper
time, we may state that the buildings are inset* readings"
and order that should a pest-strikm ship put Is today,
the hospital could as once receive the poor fellow". It is
situated on • wide extent of ground, part of the elopes ,
of Wyke commanding the Fleet Water, within a very
short distance of the main road from Wyke to Portland,
from the Half way-house or Furry Bridge Inn, and as it
also overlook.' Poi Gond Roals the shore of which ap-
proaches it within &few hundred yards, the hospital can be
easily reached either by lend or from ma Boats (meld
pot off from the chips in Portland-road,, and, passing
under the Ferry-bridge omild land their peseengen at the
very foot of the slope on the top of which the IV...vital
stands. A special read from the place enters the Wyke-
and•Portlend-road clo.e by the Ferry-bridge Cosatguard-
'Oration. In the grounde you lint encounter •
la
lent 'house on the right, and sheds on the left, built like
main buildings, of the lent concrete, by Mr. Bull, end
faced with rough shingle work. With an uninterruptedly
clear spare to the southward, the blew from the front
extends over part of the West Bay, two miles or more of
the Portland and of the Chesil Beach, that end of the
Fleet water, whial is elle the entrance to that lagoon. the
Ferry-bridge Inn, along the road to Chesil, Ifeetune•s.
Well, and Llestletewu, with the heights of perused
seetnine to orerbnlit them, the whole of the Roads and
Break water, and part ef the white Dorset cliffs to the
estreiue cwt. As a took-out or observatory of the great
southern barlemr, the S. Hospital would be meet
efficient, for not a Alp cell could come in or go out,
without bring visible (rum. its upper windows. The
Portland railway for the I at Iwo or three miles Resin full
view, and with the t akel eye can be seen the
mot where the meet terrible wrecks have happened
In the West Thy. In fact, but for being somewhat
removal from " p elm:apt:co.," few more Pleasant site.
for r ivo of .m..Wbo Wee, to efts could be found than
therm elop-e, a .1 the levities: ic en one of the best parts,
The k,eper's hoine it at •he s .uth ward, retired from the
dead-houire. and here are the detem'a room, • room suit-
able for • board-ro an k:let kit lieu's, surgery, were
closets, lance-morn., dm, the peewits being piece, with
ties, and the internal surface.. of Perfectly smooth and
obit., hardly any chink or roughness remelt:di to which
Infection might cling. Put ther to isolate the patients, the
wards are in a.parale buiiutiitge, connected with • long
covered pa sme.the ft air of smooth concrete,on a dre=
atom end about 70ft. long; this is crossed at the
end by passages also slated and concreted, leading on the
right or east to the small-pox ward, that on the west to
the foyer ward, between the too b,ing a room apparently
to lie used by the medical attendants, or its a waiting-
room. The wash-houses are in the rear, and in several
Places we noticed covered shelter.. where p•Liants might
ttke the fresh air, even in wet weather. The small-
pox wards are similar in appearance and fitting" to the
fever wards, comprising 'sb row about Vt. or so by
grt , street, filed with six plain iron bedsteads, bed
clothes and all being ready, while In two others room; one
to each the furniture Is not yet anise complete. A
ventilator is under each bed, and can be closed in winter,
an open fireplace stands near the middle of each roam
with apertures for warming the spade behind, as well e„
• in frost of the fire. Bath-rooms, patients' kitchens with
ranges, capacious pipes for supplying oold w•teit. which Is