Progs. No. 205-1.
From the Commissioner of the Arakan Division, to the Officiating Secretary to the Chief Commissioner,
British Burma,—No. 91, dated the 25th February 1876.
I HAVE the honour to forward letter No. 27, of the 24th instant, from the
Magistrate of Akyab, with a statement regarding the cases of venereal disease
treated in the Civil Hospital, together with the Civil Surgeon's report on the work-
ing of the Lock-hospital during the past year, 1875.
2. The working of the Contagious Diseases Act in the town of Akyab
appears to be satisfactory. The Magistrate states the attendance of the women at
the weekly examinations has been regular. Four registered prostitutes were
tried for offences under the Act, and they were convicted and punished. There
were three women reported by the police for carrying on the business of prosti-
tutes without being registered,, and of these one was acquitted and two convicted.
From the Town Magistrate, Akyab, to the Commissioner of the Arakan Division,—No. 27, dated the
24th February 1876.
I HAVE the honour to forward, in duplicate, the Civil Surgeon's report on the Lock-
hospital for 1875, along with the following remarks and particulars required to complete
the report.
2. The attendance of the women at the weekly examinations has been regular. Four
registered prostitutes were tried for offences under the Act, and they were convicted and pun-
ished.
3. There were three women reported by the police for carrying on the business of a
prostitute without being registered, and of these, one was acquitted and two convicted.
4. Forty-four women were on the register at the end of December—thirty-six were
Mussulmans, and eight, Hindoos—all from Chittagong. The Arakanese do not practice this
trade. During the year, thirty-three women were struck off the register to return to their
native country. The number of venereal patients treated in the Civil Dispensary during the
past three years are as follows :—
1873.
1874.
1875.
137
112
124
Annual Report on the Lock-hospital for the year 1875.
THE REGISTERED prostitutes are now all Bengalees. There is not a single Arakanese
or Burmese woman on the list. My duty as Medical Officer of the Lock-hospital is
simply to examine the registered prostitutes, to cure them when ill, and to examine any
suspected women who may be sent to the hospital by the Magistrate. It is the duty of the
police to discover clandestine prostitutes ; and as not a single Arakanese woman is on
the register, it must be supposed, however difficult it may be to suppose any such thing,
that in this Burmese town of 21,000 inhabitants, there is not a single Burmese woman
who is a prostitute. In last year's report, I dwelt on the subject of clandestine prostitution,
and I need not again revert to the subject in detail. The Contagious Diseases Act requires
a certain amount of proof, before a woman can be declared to be a public prostitute, and it
is to be presumed from the fact that not a single Burmese woman is on the register, that
there must be a considerable amount of hard-swearing amongst the women who have been
suspected and have escaped. Information on all the judicial points connected with the
working of the Contagious Diseases Act will doubtless be given by the Town Magistrate,
as that part of the question naturally rests with him. The repression of disease in the
town confers a great benefit on the shipping. The European ships do not, of course, carry
larger crew than they are legally bound to carry, and as the ships are never over-manned,
it is absolutely necessary that every sailor on board should be in fair health and fitted to do
his duty, below and aloft. Many a good ship has been lost, it is well-known, because some
out of the few hands on board, crippled, perhaps, from rheumatism or other forms of second-
ary disease, were unable to do their duty and help to save the ship in its extremity. In a
sea-port, therefore, it is pre-eminently the duty of a civilized and benevolent Government to do
all in its power to preserve sailors from becoming the victims of contagious disease. Disease
appearing amongst the crew, when the ship has been but a few days at sea, is a far more
serious affair, and carries with it more possible peril than would the appearance of similar
disease amongst a company of soldiers. I think it my duty to dwell earnestly on this aspect
of the question, because it has been asked—" of what use is the Lock-hospital in Akyab ?"
If only for the purpose of preserving the health of the sailors resorting in such large
numbers to this port, the Lock-hospital is an institution full of mercy and compassion.
In the extract from the resolution of the Government of India, in the Home Depart-