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No record of the amount of venereal disease in Her Majesty's 63rd Regiment
during the year 1876 being in the lock-hospital, no comparison can be made as to
whether the admissions last year were in excess or otherwise.
4. The cantonment sub-committee during the year consisted of—officer com-
manding the station ; senior medical officer, British forces ; cantonment magistrate.
5. From the almost total cessation of disease in the European regiment latterly,
I should imagine that unlicensed prostitution is at-present in abeyance, and from the
vigilance of the native police out of the lines, and that of the regimental within, there
does not seem much probability of its recurrence to any great extent. European*
soldiers are prohibited from entering the city, to which the rules do not extend, it being
in native territory.
6. Public prostitutes are the only people to whom registration has been an object,
and not generally favourably thought of by those, but as far as efficiency in its, opera-
tion is concerned to those who intend it as a regular means of livelihood, it is efficient ;
it is in a great many instances, however, merely a resort, in extremest need to be thrown
aside when convenient, probably when diseased, to avoid detection or to convey it
elsewhere. The extent of its operation has been within an area of three miles, taking
in the regimental and sudder bazárs and a small village in the civil lines, Talpura ;
at the latter place there are now no registered prostitutes.
On the 1st of January last year there were two prostitutes on the list, which
increased by the end of the month to 5, 3 of whom removed their names from the
register during the year. The arrival of the 39th Regiment in February increased
the numbers to 20, the highest being 22 in March, after which a gradual decrease
began, leaving at the end of the year 21. There has been no great decrease from the
maximum number, although they were not prepared for the active measures taken to
stamp out the disease. Some few were not inclined to submit; who left eventually,
and I am inclined to think much benefit was derived by their retirement. The average
number of prostitutes on the register for 1877 was in excess of that of the previous
year, being 10 .61 in 1876 to 16 .42 in 1877.
7 . R e g i s t r a t i o n f e e s h a v e n o t b e e n l e v i e d .
8. There have been but few defaulters in regular attendance at the periodical
examinations, the cause in most instances being a disinclination to return to the station
after leave having expired. In every instance a report has been made to the canton-
ment magistrate of those who absented themselves; with what effect I am unable to
assert, excepting that their names have been struck off the register.
9. The prostitutes of cantonments when found diseased were admitted into the.
lock-hospital for treatment, and were supplied with a free diet, consisting of—atta 10
chittacks, dal 2 chittacks, ghi 1/2 chittack, salt 125 grains, firewood 12 chittacks,
a small quantity of spices, and 4 chittacks of meat weekly, cost of which averages
1 a n n a 1 7 / 1 0 0 o f a p i e . d a i l y . T h e a l l o w a n c e h a s b e e n i n c r e a s e d l a t e l y t o 2 a n n a s d a i l y i f
two patients are in hospital, and 1½ anna to three; if more, the former scale is adhered
to. Examinations were at the commencement of the year held weekly, from March
to May bi-weekly, and. from June to the end of the year fortnightly. Prostitutes in
the city are not under registration and do not attend.
1 0 . V e n e r e a l d i s e a s e a m o n g s t t h e w o m e n w a s g e n e r a l l y o f a m i l d a n d t r a c t a b l e
character, only in two cases was it observed to be in anything of a virulent form.
The first, a resident of Talpura (resorted to by the native regiments at this station),
was one of the two who remained on the register at the beginning of the year, had
been in 1876 unusully often under treatment for syphilis, was again admitted for
the same disease in March last, and from the appearance of the external organs was
never probably free from it ; the labia major were hypertrophied and enlarged to an
unsightly extent, and much pitted, each pit resembling as near as possible the depression
* .The commanding officer grants passes to men of good character to visit the city Jhánsi.