RESOLUTION
ON THE
REPORT ON LOCK-HOSPITALS IN BRITISH BURMA
For the year 1877.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner, British Burma, in the General Department,—
No. 287, dated the 1st August 1878.
READ
—
Annual Reports on the working of the several Lock-hospitals in the province of British Burma for
the year 1877.
RESOLUTION.—There have been eight Lock-hospitals open throughout the year
1877, as in the previous year. At Rangoon, Thayetmyo, and Toungoo, rules
under Clause VII., section 19, Act XXII. of 1864 (the Cantonment Act) are in
force ; while at the other five stations the law applied is the Contagious Diseases
Act of 1868, and rules framed under it. The two systems are by no means iden-
tical. Both are necessarily framed with especial care to avoid the possibility of
oppression, and under neither is wide discretionary power left in the . hands of the
police or other authorities. But the Contagious Diseases Act and the rules made
under it certainly contain more stringent provisions and more effective means of
attaining the object in view than exist under the other system. Rule XII., for
instance, provides that registered women, whenever they are suspected of being
diseased, can be compelled to undergo special examination ; by Rule XVI. if a re-
gistered prostitute absents herself from the periodical examination, she may be
arrested by warrant, and taken before the Medical Officer; and Rule XVIII., al-
lows superior officers of police to arrest without warrant and convey to the hospi-
tal registered women who on examination have been found diseased and have
neglected to go into hospital. These provisions for the direct enforcement of the
rules must, it is presumed, be more effectual than those which merely lay down
punishments of fine and imprisonment for delinquency. The authority given by
the cantonment rules on the other hand, for the infliction of small fines by the
Medical Officer on the women, and for the levy of fees from them, does not appear
to compensate for the want of such powers as those just described. But no com-
parison of the practical value of the two systems is found in the report. The
prevention of disease aimed at, however, is dependent more upon the diligence
and activity of those charged with the execution of the rules than on the rules
themselves, and, where failure occurs, it may be safely concluded that the fault lies
with the former.
2. The reports now submitted of the results of the year's work are not so satis-
factory as those of some previous years. There have been in all about 1,100
prostitutes on the registers, against 1,003 in 1876 but, on the other hand, there
has been a more than corresponding increase in the amount of sickness prevalent
amongst them, 1,132 cases being recorded in 1877, against 990 in 1876. What
the progress of disease among the general population of the country may have
been it is impossible to discover : complete information has not been obtained as
to the number of cases brought under treatment in civil dispensaries, and, even
were this known, it would not perhaps afford material for any general deduction.
Among the European troops in the garrisons of Rangoon, Thayetmyo, and Toun--
goo, sickness has on the whole increased. In Rangoon there were 276 cases per
mille of average strength,—a higher proportion than has ever occurred since the
Lock-hospital was established. The average number of prostitutes simultaneously
on the registers at all eight stations during the year was about 668, and the
average number who attended examination was 483, or 72.3 per cent.,—a much
smaller proportion than in 1876 and 1875, when the attendance was about 90 and
87 per cent. respectively. Thus, with an increased number of prostitutes registered