893.12/43
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Johnson)
Sir: Referring to the telegram addressed to the Department by the Consul General at Shanghai, under date of September 10, 1930, 5 p.m., and repeated to the Legation, in regard to the new quarantine regulations for Shanghai, proposed by the Chinese Government, the Department encloses herewith, for your information, a copy of its telegram of September 12, 4 p.m., to Shanghai.37
In his telegram, the Consul General raised a question involving the administration of quarantine in American ports by inquiring whether he should visa fumigation certificates signed by an officer of the Chinese National Quarantine Service but not countersigned by the harbor-master at Shanghai. He cited a specific case, that of the Dutch Steamship Tjikarang, which had requested visa of a fumigation certificate. This visa was refused, pending the receipt of instructions from the Department. The vessel was bound for Manila and the Consul General requested instructions so that he could cable Manila, upon their receipt, in order that the quarantine authorities there might be informed before the arrival of the ship, which had evidently left Shanghai.
[Page 535]The United States Public Health Service ordinarily recognizes fumigation certificates issued by foreign medical officers, provided these certificates have been duly authenticated by an American Consul, but extends to them no greater measure of recognition than to similar certificates issued abroad by officers of the United States Public Health Service. They take this action under the International Sanitary Convention (Paris, 1926), to which China is not a party.
Quarantine officers at American ports, however, are not required by their regulations to recognize the fumigation certificates of foreign government medical officers, even when they have been authenticated by American Consuls, or even those of United States Public Health officers. They are permitted to do so, but must be satisfied, by their own inspection, in addition to the certificate, that the vessel shows a satisfactory freedom from rat infestations (Consular Regulations, 376).
In the form prescribed for visaing a fumigation certificate issued by a medical officer of a foreign government, the consular officer takes no responsibility in respect of the fumigation itself but he does certify to the signature and official character of the issuing authority, reciting that such authority is duly commissioned and qualified and that full faith and credit are due to his official acts (Consular Regulations, 376).
Pending settlement of the question in regard to the proposed new Chinese Quarantine Regulations, the Department does not deem it advisable for American consular officers to issue such certificates in respect of officers of the new Chinese National Quarantine Service, entirely aside from the question of adequacy of the fumigations.
Our own Quarantine Regulations, and the facilities which we have provided at Shanghai by maintaining there a contract surgeon of the United States Public Health Service, provide adequate and simple means of establishing the fact that a ship has been fumigated at that port. If the fumigation is performed by the Chinese Government hulk or other fumigation establishment owned by the Chinese Government and operated by the Chinese National Quarantine Service, the Chinese authorities could not very well refuse to permit an American official to be present on board an American ship while the fumigation is taking place. To refuse to fumigate foreign ships bound to American ports, if the American authorities are present during the operation, would place the Chinese Quarantine Service in a position of unreasonably refusing to extend the facilities of the port to the vessels of a friendly nation.
The Department awaits with interest the Legation’s report on the action of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Health on the [Page 536] question that has arisen at Shanghai in regard to administration of the quarantine at that port.
Very truly yours,