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ANNUAL REPORT ON THE LOCK HOSPITALS, MADRAS PRESIDENCY.
tating the legal process under which a woman proved to be a prostitute habitually
or occasionally shall be compulsorily registered, examined and, if necessary, detained
in hospital. Valid proof as to habitual or occasional prostitution should set aside
all such pleas as those of marriage, concubinage, &c., so often and successfully
advanced to set aside the action of the law. The powers of the revised Act
should also be clear and comprehensive, with a proviso that they are to be
exercised with judgment and discretion. This discretion would be more especially
necessary in such cases as those of pagoda and dancing girls. In Madras thes
e w o m e n a c c o r d i n g t o t h e H e a l t h O f f i c e r a r e o f t e n s u b j e c t s o f s y p h i l i t i c d i s e a s e .
In Calcutta the same classes are said to be comparatively free from disease. In
Calcutta they are registered bat not in Madras. The Health Officer remarks that
many of these women have no objection to registration, provided some separate
arrangements were made for their dieting and accommodation when under treatment.
This class of prostitutes need not I think be excluded from the operation of the
proposed Act. In cantonments clandestine prostitution is carried on to a serious
extent by native females employed about barracks and horse lines such as
domestic servants, laboring coolies, punkah-pullers, grass-cutters, &c., and the
suggestion is deserving of consideration how far it is feasible as regards European
barracks to substitute male for female servants. Many of the women of the classes
named are clandestine and diseased.prostitutes, Their detection, however, is
difficult, for soldiers seem to regard it as a point of honor not to, disclose
illicit prostitutes from whom they have contracted disease, Soldiers infected by
women of this stamp not infrequently communicate disease to registered prosti
tutes. The Cantonment Sub-Committee for the Lock Hospital should be a comprehen
sive one and should include, when available, the Civil authority, the two Deputy
Surgeons-General, the Officer commanding the European Regiment, the Cantonment
Magistrate, the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent of Police, the President
of the Municipal Commission and the Medical Officer in charge of the Lock
Hospital who should also act as Secretary. It appears inexpedient that the
Medical Officer of a Lock Hospital should be invested with any police or magisterial
authority, There should be Regimental Detective Police co-operating with Native
Police under a European Head Constable. These constables should be relieved of
all other duties. The institution of lal-bazaars advocated by many requires further
consideration ; but from a point of view with which I sympathize it does not seem
necessary to provide ostensibly the means and opportunities whereby vice may
find its gratifications, or to associate the prestige of Government with legalized
localities where such provision is to be found, It should further be borne in
mind that -where registration is effectual there will be a diminution in the prevalence
and severity of syphilitic diseases amongst the registered women, with possibly
some increase in the numbers of the unregistered. If, however, the provisions of
the Act be rigorously carried out, there may result a diminution in the number
of registered women, with a corresponding increase of illicit prostitution of a kind
difficult to detect, and a corresponding increase in the amount and severity of
disease amongst the registered. It will thus be seen how necessary it is that
the provisions of a comprehensive Act should be enforced with prudence and
discretion. The usual reports of the Medical Officers in charge of Lock Hospitals,
with statistical tables illustrating the working of these institutions, are appended,