No. 158, dated 22nd January 1889.
F r o m — C o l o n e l A .
H A R C O U R T
,D
e p u t y C o m m i s s i o n e r , J u l l u n d n r ,
To—The Inspector-General of Hospitals, Punjab.
I HAVE the honour to forward the annual Lock Hospital report of
Ju llundur .Cantonments for the year 1888.
2. The report speaks for itself. It shows that disastrous results have
eventuated from the cancellation of the old Lock Hospital rules and the absolute
futility of the present system of voluntary attendance. And one point is well
worthy of note. It is not as if we had only to deal with the ordinary prostitute
population in a cantonment. Matters were bad enough then with a host of
women, who could spread disease with impunity, but now it is infinitely worse;
for the lower class of women in villages surrounding cantonments flock in as
they please, and aid in reducing the military strength of the empire. This may
appear at first sight rather strained language to adopt, but it is pertinent to the
case, and is strictly within the limits of truth ; for when we see regiment after
regiment with a vastly increasing number of soldiers laid up and useless from
one of the most dreadful of human diseases, what is this but a distinct depletion
of military power. Men thus diseased can neither fight, think, nor act properly ;
their morale is lowered, and they become dispirited and discouraged in the face
of the grave malady that is eating out their very lives and disfiguring their
persons.
3. It is true, there is another side to the argument. Those who desire
to do away with Lock Hospitals, and to leave those who have sinned to bear
the full burden of their follies, can point to the undeniable facts adduced from
the returns which they urge exactly prove their case. With the Lock Hospital
rules in full force and in good working order, venereal disease is, they allow,
subdued, but the sin that produced disease is still as rampart as ever ; and this
is shown by the statistics, for directly the safeguard is withdrawn the glaring
results of vice are at once shown forth.
4. We certainly have to regard the matter from both sides ; but to be
strictly just we must carry the argument further, and decline to legislate about
an infinity of matters, because we, to a certain extent, protect the vicious, the
weak and the foolish. And then underneath the entire question lies the tre-
mendous problem of our hold of the country. Let this gross evil of ever increas-
-ing venereal disease continue, and we allow the strength of our rule to be sapped.
We calculate on a force of so many battalions and so many armed men, but what
if our forecasts are altogether untrustworthy and something like five and twenty
per cent. has to be deducted from the effective force of our army just when
every man may be required for active service.
5. With these few observations as to how this matter has struck me, I
beg to forward the report.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCK HOSPITAL, JULLUNDUR
CANTONMENT, FOR THE YEAR 1888.
A.—There has been no change in the Hospital accommodation during
the past year; it is considered suitable to the purpose, and meets all requirements.
B.—The following Medical Officers held charge of the Hospital during
the year, viz : —
Surgeon E. Fink, I. M. S., from 1st January to 30th April.
" J.G. Jordon, I. M. S., from 1st May to 22nd August.
" P. 0. W. Hailey, I. M. S., from 23rd August to 12th September.
" R. H. Firth, M. S., from 13th to 22nd September.
" P. 0. W. Hailey, ,M. S., from 23rd September to 18th December.
" J. G. Jordan, I. M. S., from 19th to 26th December.
Apothecary J. Burns, from 27th to 31st December 1888.