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well known to the police, and when they , absent themselves from examination
they find it necessary to leave the town to avoid apprehension and punishment.
If the efficiency of the working of the Act is judged by the amount of disease
that is disseminated, and this text is a highly practical one, it would seem that
the measures at present employed for the control of illicit intercourse are not
unsatisfactory. Commanding Officers of regiments quartered here make no com-
plaints of the prevalence of venereal disease among their troops. Lieutenant-
Colonel Hand, who commands the 44th Regiment of the line, has written one
letter during the year, pointing out that two of his men were admitted the same
day with gonorrhoea, but this is the only remonstrance of the kind that has been
received. This Commanding Officer when he arrived at this station suggested to
Major Plant, who was Deputy Commissioner of Thayetmyo at that time, the
usefulness of associating some civil with his military police for the detection of
illicit prostitution; but Colonel Hand has ceased to urge the introduction of this
measure for the reason that comparatively few of his men contract venereal
disease.
There is however, in my opinion, a considerable amount of unlicensed
practice taking place that it would be beneficial to check ; for frequently in the
returns it has been pointed out that men have acquired disease from women in
the open, meaning, I presume, away from any house, in the jungle, and once in a
neighbouring village. The impression, too, is strengthened by the fact that the
average number of prostitutes on the register has made no advance on the pre-
vious year, although the garrison has been more than twice its former numerical
strength.
It is not easy for the civil police to bring to light any illicit intercourse that
may take place within the regimental lines, be it open or concealed ; and I still
think it would be advantageous to introduce the step once advocated by Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Hand ; but to ensure success of the measure the active co-operation
the military authorities is indispensible.
There were four women convicted before the Cantonment Magistrate, during
the year of report, of unlicensed prostitution, and fined Rs. 10 each, or, in default
of payment, awarded a few days' rigorous imprisonment.
The convictions for breaches of the Act numbered in all 14, but the majority
of them were for irregularities of attendance on the part of registered women.
The amount imposed as fines was Rs. 122, the amount realized being Rs. 87 ;
while three defaulters were committed to jail. In every case was a fine imposed
in lieu of imprisonment, and the money was forthcoming in 11 out of the 14 con-
victions. The number punished was 30 in 1877 and 11 in 1878.
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.
The registration of prostitute women is, I think, far from complete. The
small number on the register is surely insufficient for this now large garrison
in addition to the towns-people.
The average strength of the garrison for the year was 1,480 Europeans and
1,465 Natives, a total force of 2,945 men. The average number of prostitutes
available during the year was 16, a number obtained by deducting those in hos-
pital from those who were present at the periodical examinations. The dispro-
portion is excessive, and, when the civil population of the town is also taken into
consideration, becomes glaringly so.
The Burmese section of the civil inhabitants are probably able to keep them-
selves free of venereal disease without any assistance from the Contagious Disease
Act, and they seldom make use of registered prostitutes ; but setting aside the
Burmese, there are in the towns of Thayetmyo and Allanmyo more than 2,000
residents of other races to whom the same considerations do not apply, so that
throughout the year there has been a garrison of nearly 3,000 soldiers and a
foreign population of more than 2,000 civilians for the gratification of whose
desires the average number of available registered prostitutes was 16.
It is a somewhat surprising circumstance that the number of registered pros-
titutes should have continued nearly stationary while the garrison has received
large military reinforcements, and one that I can only explain on the assumption