14.
explain, but I would suggest the following as among the probable, causes contributing
to the result :—
(1.) During the year under review no* regimental police were.employed for the.
detection and suppression of illicit prostitution, while in former years they Were
.
(2.)On account of the scarcity of food, and consequent distress which prevailed
in the district, large numbers of starving women were driven to practise unlicensed
prostitution, which from the absence of regimental, police they had greater opportunities
of doing. That the men must in the majority of instances have contracted disease from
unregistered women may, I think, be inferred from. the fact that among the former
the number of admissions was more than doubled, while a slightly larger number of
registered women were found to be suffering from venereal disease than in 1876.
(3.) During the year under review the practice of detaining women in hospital
while menstruating was discontinued, and this may possibly account for a certain
number of the cases of gonorrhœa, although. it is not a point upon which I would
express a confident opinion. I think, however, with the existence of any doubt on the
subject, it would be well to err on the safe side, and in future I shall revert to the
former custom.
The returns of venereal disease among European troops have been received regu-
larly throughout the year.
4. Sub-committee. —A sub-committee exists, composed of the magistrate of Agra,
cantonment magistrate, and medical officer in charge of the lock-hospital. Its duties
are described by my predecessor in his report for 1876 as almost nominal, and I believe
it is assembled when any special circumstances arise for the consideration of its
members.
5. Control of prostitution and suppression of illicit prostitution.—The cantonment
prostitutes are located in three " chaklas," as follows : in the sudder bazár, where a
" dhai" is appointed and paid by Government to exercise supervision over them ; in
the British infantry bazar, where a woman is entertained by private arrangement to
perform the same duty ; and in the Chipitolah bazár, where no such provision is made.
The city prostitutes have no fixed place of residence, and are subject to no immediate
control.
As regards illicit prostitution, I believe I repeat not only the opinion which has
been stated by my predecessors in this appointment, but also that held by medical
officers in charge of similar institutions in this country generally, when I say that
almost the whole of the venereal disease observed among European-troops is due to
this cause, and that in the rare instances in which the registered bazár women are
found to be affected, they are the victims, and not the propagators, of the disease. I
have not been .sufficiently long in charge of the lock-hospital in this station to note
the fact, but I know that in Fyzabad it was invariably noticed that outbreaks of disease
among the women were found to be subsequent, and not antecedent, to outbreaks of
disease among the men.
Admitting such to be the case, it is obvious that to make the lock-hospital system
complete and efficient, our efforts must be. directed towards exercising Control over
unlicensed prostitutes and the men who consort With them. To the fact that the
former object is carried out in the most perfunctory manner, and the latter not at all,
is the prevalence of Venereal disease in my opinion to be ascribed, and I. believe that
the venereal fluctuation in any station is regulated, not by the .frequency of inspection
of the registered women, but by the circumstances favouring or otherwise the practice
of unlicensed prostitution.
² Since writing the report I have been informed by the officer in medical charge of the 60th Rifles
that five regimental police were employed in the battalion during the year. I beg therefore to correct
my statement.