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The medical officer strongly urges the establishment of a system of rewards for
the arrest of unlicensed women. He also complains of the mischief effected by low
caste Ayah women employed in the lines by married non-commissioned officers and
men.
There has been a considerable increase in 1879 of the number of registered
women, and as a consequence an increase in the record of disease amongst them.
An increase due chiefly to the discovery and treatment of many very serious cases of
syphilis, the worst of which were found amongst the unlicensed women arrested by
the police.
The Hospital Assistant, Hira Lal, who has been attached to the Allahabad lock
hospital for the last eleven years, is highly commended for his professional attainments,
good temper, and tact in the management of the women.
4. The Cantonment Magistrate calls attention to the extraordinary difference in
the results of the management of the first and last six months of the year. The arrests
effected in March and April, under the system of rewards mentioned by the medical
officer, can hardly have been the cause of the great improvement in results recorded
in October; November and December. Under this system of rewards 52 women, of
whom 43 were found badly diseased, were brought on to the register within eight
weeks time. During the previous twelve months only one case of this kind had been
reported by the police.
These facts speak for themselves, and the Magistrate of the district admitted the
previous lax action of the police, while deprecating the method of procedure estab
lished for its improvement.
The Cantonment Magistrate believes the system in force for the detection of illicit
prostitution and disease is a farse, and thinks by the expenditure of a few rupees he could
certainly obtain the arrest of 100 women, of whom probably 75 would be found badly
diseased.
The improvement in the attendance of the women for examination during the
last six months of the year has been due to the action of the Superintendent of
Police in tracing out offenders in this respect, even to the effecting of their arrest in
other stations. Far from being unduly lenient in punishing absence from inspection,
the Cantonment Magistrate has always punished every woman arrested for that reason.
The difficulty formerly was to arrest the woman.
5. The Magistrate of the district reports that the result of the year's management
are very much more encouraging than those of 1878, and this result is due to the
energetic action of the Cantonment Magistrate, aided by the more honest and
thorough performance of their duties by the police. A permanent improvement in
results cannot, however, be looked for until a large lock hospital is provided in the city ;
until all prostitutes are registered ; until the native female servants and workwomen
of the barracks are brought under control, and until the city is placed out of bounds
to the soldier.
The Magistrate is of opinion that the distribution of rewards for the detection
of women consorting with soldiers leads to gross abuses, out of all proportion to the
benefits resulting.
6. The Commissioner notes the improved results of the management in the latter
portion of the year.
This improvement could hardly have resulted from the action of the Cantonment
Magistrate in the earlier months of the year. The Commissioner commends the
energy of the Cantonment Magistrate, but agrees with the Magistrate of the district
in thinking that the disadvantages of the reward system outweigh its advantages.