Progo. No. 205-4.
From the Commissioner of the Tenasserim Division, to the Officiating Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner. British Burma.—No. 439-113, dated the 27th March 1876.
I HAVE the honour to submit the reports on the operation of the lock-hos-
pitals at Moulmein and Toungoo for the past year 1875.
2. The former institution is worked under the provisions of Act XIV. of
1868, and is supervised by the Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner. The
latter is worked under Act XXII. of 1864, and is controlled by a Cantonment
Sub-Committee composed of the Deputy Commissioner, Cantonment Magistrate,
and Civil Surgeon.
3. Great difficulty is reported to exist at Toungoo in suppressing clandes-
-tine prostitution owing to the distinction imposed by Act XXII. of 1864, in
regard to prostitutes consorting with Europeans and with Natives. The matter is
one of importance, and should have been represented in a separate communi-
cation. The Deputy Commissioner will be addressed on the subject.
4. There have been no changes in the hospital accommodation provided
at Moulmein during the year of report. It is satisfactory to note that the pre-
sent building is to be removed to some other site on completion of the new
general hospital, which is now under construction.
5. The Civil Surgeon considers that the new lock-hospital and leper asy-
- l u m s h o u l d b e c o n s t r u c t e d c o n t i g u o u s t o o n e a n o t h e r i n t h e v i c i n i t y o f t h e
houses of ill-fame. This appears to be a matter for future consideration.
6. The institution at Toungoo has been removed, in March of the year of
report, into the old Civil dispensary building. The accommodation is reported
to be suitable and sufficient for present requirements.
7. The results of the operations of the institutions at Moulmein and
Toungoo during the year of report are satisfactory. There were one hundred
and eighty-nine admissions from venereal disease amongst the civil population
at Moulmein during the year of report, against one hundred and fifty-six in
1874. At Toungoo, there were only ninety-eight admissions in the year of report
against one hundred and seventeen in the previous year. Among the troops at
Moulmein the average strength of which during the year was two hundred and
ninety-six, there was a marked decrease, there being only two cases against
twenty-two cases in a strength of three hundred and fourteen in the previous
year. This great decrease is attributed to the fact that the troops which garri-
soned Moulmein in 1875 were new arrivals, whereas in the previous year it was
the third year of occupation of the troops.
8. At Toungoo there was a marked decrease of admissions amongst the
European troops, only twenty-nine admissions are reported to have been made
during the year of report ; out of this number it is explained only ten were
actual admissions at the stations ; the others had contracted the disease elsewhere,
and were affected before arrival at the station.
9. Out of an average strength of nine hundred and forty-six Native troops,
there were seventeen cases of venereal disease admitted into hospital at
T o u n g o o .
10. The work of registration at Moulmein is performed by an Inspector
specially appointed for the purpose, while at Touugoo the police generally is
employed.
11. The appointment of an Inspector, also of a dhai, is applied for by the
Civil Surgeon. These proposals should form subjects for separate applications,
and the Deputy Commissioner has been asked to report on the subject.
12. During the year of report twenty-one cases were tried at Moulmein, in
which twenty-two women were concerned, of whom ten were discharged or
acquitted, seven sentenced to imprisonment for periods varying from ten days to
one month, and five were fined. The amount of fines imposed was Rs. 70, of
which only Rs. 35 were realized.
13. At Toungoo three women were tried for non-attendance at the periodical
examinations ; one was fined, one imprisoned and one absconded. The amount
of fines realized during the year amounted to Rs. 8.