12
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE
a suggestion was made to increase the number of men employed on detective duty from 4 to 6;
this suggestion readily met the approval and sanction of the local administration, but the
additional men were not placed at the disposal of this institution till August 1879, when only
one Police constable was added to the staff. This now consists of 5 men, 2 of whom are
Mahomedans, 1 a Rajput, 1 a Bengalee Hindu, and 1 a Mahratta. During the first seven
months of the year, when there were four constables, the newly-registered women numbered 101,
giving an average of 14 .42 in each month. During the remaining five months, when there
were five constables at work, the new registrations numbered 81, at an average of 16 . 2 per month.
These averages clearly point out that an increase to the detective staff is attended with a
corresponding increase in new registrations as well as in the arrest of absentee prostitutes.
In respect to working of the Regimental Police, the Officer Commanding Royal Artillery
reports:-
"I believe that the duties of the Military Police of the Royal Artillery are carried out in a most
satisfactory manner. They take up native women whom they know to be unregistered prostitutes,
and hand them over to the Civil Police. It has, however, been reported to me that unregistered women
are frequently taken by the men to the brothels in the bazaar, and this ought to be prevented by the
Civil Police.
"That the number of cases of venereal disease in the mounted corps should exceed those in the
infantry is easily explained by the number of grass-cutters in the lines of the mounted corps.
"That the 21st Regiment should have more cases than the 16th is probably owing to their being
in the next lines to ours, and that they also make acquaintance with the grass-cutters."
The Officer Commanding H.M.'s 12th Royal Lancers writes :-
"That prostitutes known as such are invariably taken up by the Regimental and handed over to
the Native Police. Even women loitering about are subject to inquiry, and I do not , consider that
women of this description are to be found within the limits of, say, one mile from the barracks. Yet I
must allow that in a regiment like my own, where many grass-cutters and other females are employed,
the possibility of checking clandestine intercourse becomes a great difficulty, and almost beyond the
capacity of British Police."
The Officer Commanding H.M.'s 2-16th Regiment states that:-
"The Regimental Police of the battalion under my command have strict orders to apprehend any
native woman found loitering about the roads and lines in the vicinity of the barracks occupied by
the corps. Frequent arrests are made and the women handed over to the Civil Police; still this does
not tend wholly to prevent clandestine prostitution."
The Officer Commanding H.M.'s 1-21st R. S. Fusiliers describes thus:—
"The non-commissioned officers and men employed on police duty are permanently so employed;
they are constantly on duty within or outside the entrenchment, certain localities favorable for
concealment and known to be the resort of prostitutes, being particularly watched. A list of convic-
tions of prostitutes apprehended in the open by the picquet of the battalion under my command shows
that from last June to the present time 47 such cases have been dealt with by the Cantonment
Magistrate.
"The Regimental Police and Native Police are supposed to work together, and for the purpose
of arriving at a mutual understanding as to carrying out of their joint duties a non-commissioned
officer and some of the Regimental Police were sent for instructions to the office of the Police Magis-
trate in April 1878. Whatever little assistance the Native Policemen may have at first given has
long since ceased altogether. Far from assisting the Military Police, my Police non-commissioned
officer informs me they evince a marked disinclination to interfere with the native prostitutes, and
that on many occasions he has been led to believe that the latter have been warned by the Native
Police of the approach of himself or his men."
"The present system only requires to be honestly carried out to reduce to a great extent the
spread of venereal disease; but, as I have stated above, the Native Policemen do not give the assistance
they should, and there is no doubt that, if they choose, they can, with the advantages of knowledge of
the language and customs of the people to be dealt with, effect much towards the suppression of the
evil with far less trouble than it costs the European soldier."
Out of 182 females arrested by the detective Police, no less than 174 were found diseased.
If these women had been permitted to ply their calling without detection, they would be
sufficient to account for the whole number of annual admissions amongst the troops.
Judging from the figures of the past two years, the attendance at the weekly examinations
was a little better in 1879. A woman who is addicted to carrying on prostitution will, in the
face of every comfort which the institution affords, never of her own accord seek for admission
into the institution except under rare circumstances. To the prostitute the Lock Hospital is a
place of confinement, and she no longer enjoys the liberty of her own house and free indulgence
in liquor. As observed in last year's report, it is scarcely ever found that the European soldier
betrays an unlicensed prostitute who may have been the source of contagion to him.
How far venereal disease prevailed among the women will be seen from the following
statistical table for the past two years:—