66
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
The return from Bellary is less satisfactory in more than one point of view. It is
unsatisfactory as being incorrect, and it would be equally unsatisfactory if correct. The 'period
of occupation' of the European troops has been taken to mean the entire period at the station,
instead of the period included in the year 1876, and as the average strength and number of
admissions profess to be calculated for the same period, they must be vitiated by the original
error, and are therefore unreliable. According to the statement forwarded by Surgeon-Major
Cleveland, the ratio of admissions for venereal diseases among the European troops at Bellary
was 252.83 per 1,000 of strength. For primary syphilis the admissions were at the rate of
153.94, and secondary syphilis 16.85 per 1,000 respectively.
The Lock Hospital Committee at Bangalore is composed of
—
The Commissioner, Nundidroog Division, President.
The Deputy Surgeon-General, Indian Medical Department.
The Deputy Surgeon-General, British Medical Service.
The President, Municipal Commission.
The Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore District.
The Assistant Quartermaster-General.
T h e C a n t o n m e n t M a g i s t r a t e .
The Assistant Superintendent of Police.
The Medical Officer in charge, Secretary.
The following officers compose the Cantonment Committee at Bellary :—
President.
The Brigadier-General Commanding Ceded Districts.
Members.
The Collector of Bellary.
The Medi cal Of f i cer i n char ge of t he Br i gade.
The Quartermaster-General of the District.
The Officer Commanding the European Regiment.
The Senior Medical Officer, British Medical Service
.
The Executive Engineer of the District.
The District Superintendent of Police.
The Committee at Bellary has not met at all, and that at Bangalore has met but once,
I believe, during the year.
At Bangalore a chief constable and two constables have been employed as special police
for the supervision of the women who come under the provisions of the Contagious Diseases
Act. Only women who are known to consort with Europeans are amenable to the rules. In
September last a woman was added to the list of specials, but the medical officer doubts
her utility. At Bellary women coolies are dismissed from the barracks at sunset, and a
picket patrols in the neighborhood during the night to prevent their return. Clandestine
prostitution must be extensively carried on in both stations, but it is very difficult to
procure convictions even when discovered.
The operation of the rules framed under the Contagious Diseases' Act extends in
Bangalore over an area of 14 square miles, and in Bellary to a distance of four miles beyond
the limits of the cantonment.
In Bangalore the number on the register at the end of the year was greater by five than
that at the beginning, but the average number during the year was less than that of the
preceding year ; 18 left the station and 1 died, while 24 were added to the register. At Bellary
there has been a decrease of 35: 59 removed their names or absconded and 3 died, but
only 27 were added to the register. It cannot be said that the registration at either station is
satisfactory, or that 73 registered women, a third of whom are always in hospital, constitute a
fair allotment for such a station as Bangalore, with an average strength of European troops of
1,738 and a large European and East Indian population besides. These figures alone show that
a great amount of unlicensed prostitution must be going on. The same may be affirmed of
Bellary, where, however, the disproportion is not so great.
No registration fees are exacted.
Every registered woman not in hospital is bound to attend four times a month for
examination by the Medical Officer. The attendance has been generally good at Bangalore,
but not so satisfactory at Bellary. At the latter station 349 women were reported to the
Magistrate for non-attendance.
The arrangements for conducting the periodical examinations are satisfactory.
The following table gives the working of the lock hospital at Bangalore for the last four
years, also the prevalence of syphilitic affections amongst the British troops at the same
station.