( 89 )
38. A comparison of column 5 of table D. with column 2 of table C. shsow
marked decrease in the admissions to hospital during the period of five years from
1873–77 over the period of ten years ranging from 1860 to 1869, viz., a diminution
of 44.8 per 1,000 of strength. If the three quinquennial periods of 1860-64, 1865-69,
and 1873-77 be placed in juxtaposition, they give the following results:—
TABLE E.
Five years previous.
Average admissions into hospital per 1,000 of strength
in each period.
1860-64...
. . .
. . .
318
1865-69...
...
...
208
1873-77...
. . .
...
218
3 9 . I a m u n a b l e t o g i v e t h e a d m i s s i o n s i n t o h o s p i t a l f o r 1 8 7 0 , 1 8 7 1 , 1 8 7 2 , a s n o
exact records exist showing the figures.
40. I have been induced to enter into all these statistics by a remark made by
the Sanitary Commissioner to the Government of India in his annual report for
1875, wherein he expresses his opinion “that the lock-hospitals have failed principally
because no facts have been brought forward to show that the type of disease in the
present day is milder than it used to be; and also because statistics do not show that
marked and steady decadence in the admissions for venereal disease which was to be
anticipated from the establishment of lock-hospitals.
41. It is much to be regretted that this should be the opinion of so high an
authority on sanitary legislation as the Sanitary Commissioner; but I am justified in
saying that the figures I have shown in the foregoing tables have at least in some
degree proved that his views as regards the advantageous working of the lock-hospi-
tal system in Lucknow at least are not altogether justified by the facts.
42. Contrast the figures shown in table B., which refers to the extent of venereal
disease in the United Kingdom, with those of table C. or D., Which show the preva-
lence in Lucknow of the same diseases : and what do they teach ?
43. First, let us study the circumstances under which the Contagious Diseases
Act is administered in England and in India.
44. Lock-hospital system in England. —In England, in the towns brought under
the operations of the Act, the police are a powerful and efficient body of men, invested
by the provisions of the Act with a great authority, cognizant of every woman prac-
tising prostitution, and enabled to enforce to the utmost the laws under which they act.
Under such a system as this, illicit prostitution, the great bane of our system here in
India, is almost unknown ; and once this evil is removed, all the rest is easy. The mere
control and inspection of registered prostitutes is a task efficiently and readily
performed by the local officers.
Hence the satisfactory results which follow on the working of the Contagious
Diseases Acts in the populous towns of the United Kingdom.
45. But how is it with us out in India ?
The same in India .—Alas! widely different conditions prevail. The organized
body of police who work so steadily and efficiently at home have but a sorry analogue
in the corps of “kunistables” to whom is entrusted the duty of seeking out and cap-
turing the unregistered prostitute in India. How is it possible for them, few and ill-
organized as they are, to be constantly on the alert, guarding against the approach of
the miserable, ill-clad, and half-starved woman who seeks a precarious livelihood on the
outskirts of civilization by illicit prostitution? They do their work to the best
of their ability, I doubt not; and that the detective system established here in April,
1876, has done great good there can be no question. But we need more than this;
we need a larger and better paid body of men, who scall be ever on the watch against
the spread of illicit prostitution; we need a broader and more elastic code of rules for