( 4 )
And the expenditure on each hospital was :—
1 8 7 7 .
1878.
Rs. A P.
Rs. A. P.
Rangoon
. . .
... 14,953 10 2
...
14,936 9 8
Thayetniyo
. . .
. . .
... 1,147 1 2
...
1,357 7 9
Prome
. . .
. . .
... 1,249 6 7
...
1,356 1 6
Bassein
. . .
. . .
... 1,294 11 11
...
1,362 6 11
Henzacla
. . .
. . .
...
904 3 1
...
1,064 2 3
Total ... 19,549 0 11
...
20,076 12 1
From Major R. C. EVANSON, Town Magistrate, Rangoon, to the Commissioner of the Pegu Division,—
No. 12-3, dated the 20th January 1879.
IN forwarding the report of the lock-hospital for the year 1878, I have the honour to
make the following remarks :
—
2. The Civil Surgeon's report was received by me on the 13th instant, and I for-
warded it for any comments the Superintendent of Police might desire to make. He writes
as follows :—
A Police Inspector visiting military hospitals is inexpedient. The Medical Officer of the military hospital
might communicate with Surgeon in charge of the lock-hospital.
I quite agree that two peons are insufficient to aid. the Police Inspector in the work. Six men should be added,
making eight peons the strength of his establishment. The watching of the lock-hospital walls at night should form
part of their duty. I think the lock-hospital walls should be covered with broken glass.
The remark about the Inspector being a new man refers to Mr. Thurgood : he was only engaged for the three
months Mr. Pusey was absent in charge of Poozooncloung division. Mr. Pusey is now back, but, as I mentioned above,
should have more assistance.
3. The special report and suggestions which were forwarded to you on the 18th
October 1878 meet nearly all the weak points brought to notice by the Civil Surgeon.
4. The raising of the wall is certainly one of the first things which should be done.
The strengthening of the police establishment will, I presume, take place when the general
reinforcement is sanctioned.
5. From many years' experience, it is found that what the Civil Surgeon suggests in
para. V. of his report is of no use. In every regiment stationed here it has been tried, and
the men do not point out the women who communicated the disease to them.
Although Mr. Hume is of opinion that the Inspector need not visit the military hos-
pital, he has done so frequently for the purpose of detecting unregistered women.
I agree with the Civil Surgeon in his remarks in the first portion of his para. VI.
When the habits of the Indian labouring classes who congregate here are considered, it
cannot be expected that all diseased women can be registered. Many of them who arrive
here in the immigrant vessels are doubtless prostitutes ; but they land with men they pick
up on board, who are passed off as their husbands, and it is impossible to bring them within
the Act without sufficient proof, which is seldom adducible until some months after their
arrival. The Civil Surgeon's opinion, that women of a higher class than those registered
spread disease, should not, I think, be accepted without further enquiry.
6. Regarding para. VIII. of the report, I quote the following from my letter
No. 43-8 of the 8th October last on the subject of absentees : —
In 1873, I communicated with Deputy Surgeon-General Duff on this subject, and had hoped that the result of
my correspondence with him would have discontinued for good a repetition of such unfair and erroneous calculation,
which throws discredit on the working of the institution, and on those responsible for it. I cannot explain why the
Civil Surgeon ignored the orders on this matter, which will be found in Surgeon-General Duff's letter No. 1026-73,
dated 22nd August 1873, to the address of the Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, a copy of which
I attach for ready reference.
Had these orders been attended to, the result in last year's returns would have been vastly different.
Women who are unable to come to the examinations should be visited free of charge at their own houses by a
Medical Officer.
If they are found to be ill, and fit subjects for treatment in the general hospital, they should then be sent there ;
and their names most unquestionably should not be entered as " absentees " from the examination ; for the term
" absentee " as now accepted means an offender against the rules, and one who has been absent without cause.
The total of absentees—viz ., 1,862—makes it appear that the calculation has been
erroneously made again this year.
As the report is now due, I do not feel justified in returning it to the Civil Surgeon ;
but I will communicate with him, and forward a supplementary table shewing the number
according to the method sanctioned in the letter quoted. The medical certificate alluded
to by the Civil Surgeon can easily be introduced under his own orders. It seems a good
suggestion.
7. The question of deporting the 41 women alluded to in para. XII. is now before
the local Government ; and I have pointed out that I know of no regulation under which
they may be compelled to leave,—they being unwilling to do so themselves.
8. The great difference in the Madras establishment as compared with that of
Rangoon is very striking, and the paucity of ours must account for the institution not
being as well kept as I think it ought to be.
9.
With the exception of the method of calculating absentees, the Civil Surgeon's
report appears to me to be a satisfactory one.
10. The Police Inspector, Mr. Pusey, did good service.