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broadcast, almost, it may be said, through no fault of their own. Their very helpless-
ness or incurable maladies ought of themselves to establish a claim for them, in a
country like this, on the consideration of Government, and their want of cleanliness
as well as their promiscuous mode of indulgence are peculiarly favourable to the
development of the diseases here contemplated. It is not too much to say that they
have been already the cause of a good deal of mischief of this kind in this very
garrison, and I am of opinion that one woman of this class is more dangerous in
herself alone than a dozen of her cleaner or more discriminating sisters.
The British soldier is, as we all know, not very particular in the distribution of
his amorous patronage. He selects his partners, without fear or favour, in the
darkness of the night, as well as under the shadow of a tree or within the shelter of
a corn-field or a nala. He likes variety, but dislikes paying much for it, and there
is reason to believe that he is not altogether averse to the kind of pariah gratification
afforded by these women. Anyhow there is evidence to show that they are unable
to compete on equal terms with their sisters, they have therefore to go elsewhere,
to the jungle or the common. They are frequently much more so than their neigh-
bours diseased, and I am of opinion that such women as I have described above
should be no longer allowed to roam at large, as they do at present, in this or any
other military cantonment.
There can be no reasonable doubt that, as noticed by one of my predecessors,
" the women convicted of unlicensed prostitution sent up for examination will gener-
ally be found to be suffering from a more virulent form of disease than those who
were regular attendants," and the reasons for this are so obvious as to dispense me
from the necessity of doing more in this place than dwelling on the claims of the
latter to protection, and insisting on the necessity of improving or extending the detec-
tive system now in force. I am aware that rewards are supposed to be given to these
men when they succeed in catching an unlicensed woman with a European soldier,
but they are, I fear, too small, if indeed they are disbursed at all, to counteract the
other influences that are or can be brought to bear on these officials; and taking into
account the odium that must necessarily attach to such a duty, I would strongly recom-
mend the institution of a regularly graduated tariff of fees for these services. The
dhaies, and even the registered prostitutes themselves, might be included in the same
list—the former on account of their greater local knowledge, the latter through their
pockets. Their natural dislike of poachers would stimulate their scent, their instinc-
tive sense of self-preservation or love of emolument would concur, and any woman
who succeeded in convicting a noted trespasser might be either rewarded on the spot,
or have remitted to her any fine she may incur within the current year. Whether
this suggestion can be carried out or not I am unable to say. I feel, however, that
it deserves consideration, and I feel further that were some combined measure of
supervision such as I have ventured to suggest efficiently carried out, we might in
time minimise, if we did not actually succeed in entirely stamping out, 'venereal' in
this station.
One more suggestion and I have done. When I first thought of writing this
report I looked about me in vain for any guide as to the form it should assume, or as to
the points on which I should dwell in connection with it. I was not even made aware
of the necessity of such a report at all until the deputy surgeon-general, I. F., Dr.
Hutchinson, told me so on the occasion of his recent visit here, and the scattered
memoranda to which I had access are quite insufficient for such a review as the
general surroundings and situation deserve. This will account, in some measure,
though not of course altogether, for the diffuseness or incompleteness of this state-
ment. I did not know how to begin or when to stop, and I must plead the above in
extenuation of my shortcomings. To obviate a similar failure in the future I would
suggest that a printed copy of this, should it happily achieve that distinction, and
such other reports as are now available, should be filed for future reference in our
lock hospital office here. The orders of Government that bear on the subject might