( 7 )
From the Assistant Cantonment Magistrate, Toungoo, to the District Magistrate, Toungoo,—No. 9, dated
the 3rd April 1875.
REFERRING to the opinion of the Government Advocate, No. 25F., dated 20th March
1875, I have the honour to annex an extract of clauses 3, 4, and 5, Chapter v., of the Can-
tonment Rules.
It is absolutely necessary that steps be taken to bring all prostitutes under the opera-
tion of the Lock-hospital rules, which are otherwise but a dead-letter. Of eighteen names
registered since the rule came into force, only nine are at present on the register, all of whom
are anxious to withdraw, with a view to practise their trade amongst the class which, as
matters now stand, is practically beyond Medical supervision and police control. It is
notorious that the distinction of classes recognized by the rules has no practical existence
in the place, and only serves to render the police powerless to deal with the most formidable
source of infection.
I therefore request that the necessary application on the subject may be made to the
local Government.
From the Assistant Cantonment Magistrate, Toungoo, to the District Magistrate, Toungoo,—No. 5, dated the
3rd Februar y 1875.
DOUBTS exist as to whether the provisions of clause 7, Section 19, Act XXII. of 1864
can be legally applied to all classes of prostitutes found within cantonment limits. On the
one hand, paragraphs 3 and 4, Chapter v., Cantonment Rules, declare that, unless ordered by
the local Government, those rules shall be applicable only to prostitutes frequented by
Europeans. On the other hand, paragraph 5 of the same chapter absolutely forbids any
public prostitutes even to reside within cantonment limit without being first registered
agreeably to the Act.
The local Government have not, so far as I am aware, extended the operation of those
rules to any beyond the class above alluded to, and as those composing that class are very
few in number compared with the surrounding mass who ostensibly resort to natives only,
conviction for breach of rules becomes difficult to obtain, and the operation of the Act is
restricted to such an extent as to render it nearly inoperative.
Unless this state of things be intended, it appears very desirable that the difficulty
in question be cleared up by reference to the proper authority.
Opinion of the Government Advocate, British Burma, to the Deputy Commissioner, Toungoo, [with
reference to his letter, Judicial Department (Miscellaneous),—No. 29, dated the 4th March 1875] ,—No.
25F., dated the 20th March 1875.
IT IS to be regretted that a copy of the Toungoo Cantonment Rules was not sent
to me.
2. The provisions of clause 7, Section 19, Act XXII. of 1864 are sufficiently broad to
include all classes of prostitutes found within cantonment limits. I take it, however, that
paragraphs 3 and 4 would restrict the provisions of paragraph 5 of the rules to prostitutes
frequented by Europeans.
3. The proper course would seem to me to be to apply to the local Government to
make the rules applicable to all prostitutes.
From the Town Magistrate, Moulmein, to the Commissioner of the Tenasserim Division,—No. 44, dated the
18th March 1876.
I HAVE the honour to submit the report on the Lock-hospital at Moulmein for the year
1875, as prepared by Dr. deFabeck, the Officer in medical charge. It will be seen from
the report that the result of the working of the Lock-hospital remains satisfactory.
2. There were during the year twenty-one cases, under the Contagious Diseases Act
XIV. of 1868, tried, involving twenty-two women, of whom ten were discharged or acquitted,
seven were sentenced to imprisonment for periods varying from ten days to one month,
and five were .fined. The amount of fine imposed was Rs. 70, of which Rs. 35 has been
realized.
Report on the Lock-hospital, Moulmein, for the year 1875, by the Medical Officer in charge,
Lock-hospital, Moulmein,—dated the 7th February 1876.
THERE have been no changes during the year as to the nature, extent, accommo-
dation, ventilation, &c., of the Lock-hospital. The average space per inmate during the
year has been 2,145 cubic feet. The Lock-hospital will be removed to another site, on the
completion of the new General Hospital (about to be constructed). Its present position has
been reported on previously as objectionable. A temporary Leper-hospital is in course of
construction, and it would, perhaps, be advisable, should a permanent Leper-hospital be
built, that this institution and the Lock-hospital be removed to another site, but contiguous
to one another, in ,the vicinity of that part of the town in which houses of ill-fame exist,
so as to admit of their both being supervised by one medical subordinate. According to