( 17 )
I must not omit to mention that a constable has been appointed to see if any women
are absent from the periodical examinations, and to keep those who attend in order. It has
occurred twice this year that a prostitute, found diseased and told to remain for treatment,
has found opportunity to run away at once while the officers of the institution were occupied
with the examination.
VI.—How far the registration has been efficient, to what it extends, and over what area. Any increase or
decrease as compared with the previous year.
An improvement has been effected in the registration of prostitutes over the preceding
year ; but it would be idle to ignore the inefficiency of the system, when men have so fre
quently acquired venereal disease from unlicensed women. A reliable record of Burmese.
women who prostitute themselves in the open manner that the girls living in the prostitutes'
quarter of the town do, is probably to be found in the statements which accompany this
report ; but the difficulty of registering all prostitute women among any race of people
whose standard. of morality is on a par with the Burmese national code is one that remains
to be overcome. The Burmese girls, however, are not alone responsible for the contagious
diseases acquired by the soldiers at Thayetmyo. The Madrasee female grass-cutters
inhabiting the neighbourhood of the barracks continue to be a fruitful source of evil. The
names Ratiah, Serunjee, Choutiah, and Choury, with others of their order, who figure
among the women that have been punished for evading the regulations of the Act, shew
that these Madrasee women are very often guilty of illicit intercourse ; indeed, about a
fourth of the punishments for breaches of the Contagious Diseases Act was awarded to
Madrasee prostitutes, and yet there is not a single Madrassee prostitute on the register.
There is one in hospital now, however, with gonorrhoea, who was charged with prostitution
by a man to whom she had communicated that disorder. She is not on the register yet, but
I hope the Magistrate will make her admission to the roll compulsory. I cannot explain
why these Madrasee women who have been convicted of prostitution are not brought on,
and kept on, the register.
Of the six Madrasees punished for their crimes, only two were subsequently enrolled as
prostitutes. The exceptional two were Chinee and Somwaloo ; the first absconded, and
Somwaloo has since been permitted to remove her name from the list. I have thoroughly
searched throughout the roll of prostitutes, past and present, and, inasmuch as that prior
to this year no Madrasee woman has been registered, during the period of report some pro-
gress in the right direction has been made. The class now on the register is entirely com-
posed of Burmese.
In this district the Contagious Diseases Act extends over an area of 196 square miles,
and the population within this area is 39,000. The average number of prostitutes on the
register during the past year was 24.9, so that the registered prostitutes to the total popula-
tion stood in the proportion of 1 to 1,600. This calculation, however, is not deserving of
serious reflection, for the inhabitants it has reference to are mostly Burmese, and an opinion
expressed in a previous report, that for the Burmese race no Contagious Diseases Act is
necessary, remains with me a very firm impression.
Eliminating the Burmese element, it is found that, of this 39,000, there are only 2,157
foreign residents of the soil, and, by applying the comparison made above to these strangers,
a result of one registered prostitute to every 86 of this population is obtained. The Bur
mese themselves comparatively seldom make use of prostitutes ; the registered girls, who
seldom shew a desire to conceal to what classes their habitual supporters belong, will tell
you that this is so. The Thayetmyo women are unanimous in the confession that natives
of India and European soldiers are by far their chief maintainers. Of the 2,371 patients
who applied at the civil dispensary during the past year, 1,361 were Burmese and 1,010
were foreigners ; and of venereal complaints, of which there were 49 treated, only 19 occur-
red to Burmese, and this gives a ratio of 2 . 1 Kullas with venerea, to one Burman.
I am afraid that the extension of the Act to so great an aggregate area as 196 square
miles is productive of no benefit.
The River Irrawaddy divides this area, and it is noteworthy that on the Allanmyo side
only two prostitutes have ever been registered out of the total of 95 enrolled since the intro-
duction of the Act. The remaining 93 have arisen on the Thayetmyo side in the locality
of the European troops and the Kulla quarter. There were 19 prostitutes remaining on the
register in the beginning of the year, 34 were added, and the names of 30 were struck off
during the year (women's names are now removed after a continued absence of two months).
For the year 1876, the corresponding numbers were 18 remaining, 16 added, and 15
struck off.
On the 31st December 1877, there were 23 women on the list, and on the same date of
the preceding year this number was 19. It must be satisfactory that 34 women were added
to the register in 1877, against 16 in 1876, as this result tends to shew that greater vigi-
lance was bestowed by the responsible authorities to suppress clandestine prostitution.
That so large a number as 30 procured the erasure of their names does not lessen the
credit due for the increase of registration which was effected.
An examination of columns 2 and 3 of Statement II. in this and the previous year's
reports, although not unsatisfactory for 1877, is less gratifying than the comparison above
5