still some were reported for non-attendance. The same thing occurred at Akyab and
Toungoo. At Prome the attendance was not satisfactory : out of an average strength of 32.3
it appears that 10.2 absented themselves every month, and only 2.5 of them were reported
to the Magistrate ; but, as before remarked, the register at Prome was very carelessly kept,
and many of the names in it should have been removed long before it was done. At Ran-
goon a monthly average of 36.52 absented themselves from the examinations. The Civil
Surgeon's explanation of the defective attendance is, that " the majority of them, principally
Burmese, absconded, harassed, as they said, by having to attend weekly for examina-
tion." I am disposed to account for the choice of the word by which he desires to
express the effect produced by the weekly examinations, on the supposition that its exact
significance was not clearly present to his mind, or else he would have selected a more
appropriate and less objectionable one. To harass' is to worry or annoy for the sake of
annoying, and to apply such a term to an order issued solely for the public good merely
because it was not agreeable to the public women effected by it, is a. muse of language
which only serves to show the writer's dislike to a measure which gave him some extra
labour, but which he admitted had done much good.
The number of absentees from the periodical examinations can be easily ascertained
from No. II. statement attached to the report : the Civil Surgeon calculates it at an average
of 36.52 a month, but he is silent as to the number of those reported to, the Magistrate, and
the column which should have given this information was left blank. On the report reaching
me, I pointed out this omission, and requested that it might be supplied. The figures supplied
to me are entered in red ink in the proper column, and it will be seen that, while an average
number of 36.52 were absent, only an average number of 4.25 were reported to the
Magistrate.
A more detailed examination of this statement discloses the fact that, from the intro-
duction of the weekly examinations on the 23rd of August, while absenteeism increased, the
efforts of the Civil Surgeon to restrain it may be said to have practically ceased. Thus, out
of a total of 105 absentees in September, only one was reported to the Magistrate ; of sixty-
six in October, only one also was reported ; of forty-seven absent in November, not one was
reported ; of fifty-four in December, one was reported.
A consideration of these facts might suggest to an unprejudiced mind that another
cause besides the " now" weekly examinations may have contributed to the increase of
absenteeism—namely, the impunity with which it could be practised ; and for that impu-
nity it appears to me that the Civil Surgeon must be held mainly responsible.
The following observation is in the same strain of depreciation of the much-abused
weekly examinations : " It appears that, since the weekly examinations were established,
the Burmese women particularly became discontented, and to this is attributed the very
large number brought before the Magistrate for breaches of the Cantonment rules."
The only Cantonment rule which a dislike to the weekly examinations was calculated
to produce a breach of, is the rule requiring attendance at those examinations, and, as
already shown, the " very large" number brought before the Magistrate for breaches of that
rule was about an average of one a month since the establishment of the more frequent
examinations. Apparently, in Dr. Griffith's opinion, any argument is good enough against
a thing one dislikes.
Among the evil results produced by this obnoxious measure, according to the Town
Magistrate, is that " the amount of the receipts is decreasing, and the average proportion
of absentees from examination increasing. The former," he says, " has fallen 7½ per cent. ;
the latter has increased from a monthly average of 62 to 1 of 139, or about 125 per cent."
From whatever source he drew his figures, it was certainly not from the report on which
he was commenting. Instead of a monthly average of 139 absentees, Dr. Griffith has
shown that it was only 36.52; and a comparison of the annual statement No. III., which
accompanies the report, with the corresponding statement in that of the previous year,
shows that the total receipts in 1875 exceeded those of 1874 by the sum of Rs. 47-4.
It is true, indeed, that the receipts from fines for breaches of the rules were less by Rs. 142
in 1875 than in 1874.
If this has been the result of the weekly examinations, I confess I do not feel much
moved to defend them from the accusation, even if Mr. McIver were able to prove that they
had dried up this source of revenue altogether. If I were indifferent to the quality of an
argument, I might even claim it as one in their favour ; but I leave it where it is, and would
rather see my cause attacked than defended by arguments of that description.
The weekly examinations are now a thing of the past. They were discontinued when
they had served the purpose for which they were introduced. Their effect in checking the
increase of disease among the soldiers exceeded even my most sanguine expectations, and
this success satisfied me that that increase was due, not so much to the unlicensed women
who were said to haunt the neighbourhood of the European lines, as to a want of due super-
vision of the registered women who either evaded examination altogether, or were examined
at too long intervals. Notwithstanding all the evil consequences that have been more or less
directly ascribed to them, I shall not hesitate to order them again should it appear to me
at any time to be necessary.
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