( 5 )
The table shows that during the past five years in the towns where lock-
hospitals have been maintained venereal diseases have increased in frequency
among the European troops and apparently also among the general population.
Whether the increase would have been more rapid if the lock-hospitals had not
been maintained, or whether it would have been less rapid if the rules had been
more strictly enforced, it is impossible to say ; but it must be admitted that the
statistics fail to show that any advantage has been derived from the enforcement
of the rules.
5. For some years the question under discussion has occupied the attention
of the Medical authorities in India. In his eighteenth annual report the Sanitary
Commissioner with the Government of India remarks, regarding the enforcement
of the lock-hospital system in cantonments, that " year by year it becomes more
" and more evident that, however successful such a system promised to be when it
" was originally adopted, its practical working in this country has proved a com-
" plete failure." In his nineteenth report, referring to the above-quoted passage,
the Sanitary Commissioner says : " Another year's experience confirms the con-
- c l u s i o n t h e n a r r i v e d a t . " R e g a r d i n g t h e w o r k i n g o f t h e A c t i n C a l c u t t a h e m a k e s
the following statements : " The evils however which are inseparable from the
" o p e r a t i o n o f a n y s u c h e n a c t m e n t i n t h i s c o u n t r y a r e v e r y g r a v e . T h e s y s t e m o f
" r e g i s t r a t i o n a n d i n s p e c t i o n t h e r e i n p r o v i d e d n e c e s s i t a t e s a n i n t e r f e r e n c e w i t h t h e
" people in their most intimate social relations, which is in all countries objec-
" tionable but specially so in India where, owing to native customs and other
" special conditions, all attempt at such interference is beset with peculiar diffi-
" c u l t i e s a n d i n v o l v e s a c o n s t a n t r i s k o f o p p r e s s i o n a n d i n j u s t i c e . W h i l e t h e e v i l s
" inseparable from the Act are of a serious and embarrassing character, the
" benefit derived from it is, on the other hand, very doubtful. In accordance
" with these views the Act has been suspended in the town of Calcutta with
" effect from the 15th March 1883, and the question of its suspension in the
" towns of Madras and Bombay is under consideration. Where the Act has been
" withdrawn the results are to be carefully watched, and the lock-hospitals
" r e p l a c e d b y a s p e c i a l l y o r g a n i z e d s y s t e m o f d i s p e n s a r y a n d h o s p i t a l r e l i e f w h i c h
" shall be strictly voluntary." The Chief Commissioner agrees generally with
these views and commends the subject to the careful consideration of the Muni-
cipal Committees at Akyab and Bassein, whose opinion will be invited as to
whether the Contagious Diseases Acts should continue to be enforced in those
towns or not. At Moulmein the Committee have given up the management of
the lock-hospital. The Chief Commissioner does not think it necessary to
maintain it as a provincial institution. Arrangements will therefore be made
for closing the hospital with effect from the 1st June next, after which date the
provisions of the Contagious Diseases Act will no longer be enforced in Moulmein.
At Rangoon, Thayetmyo, and Toungoo, if the Military authorities desire that
the lock-hospitals shall continue to be maintained, the Chief Commissioner will
not at present recommend their abolition. But he will be prepared to consider
any proposal to this end which the Military authorities may desire to make.
By order,
E. S. SYMES,
O f f g . S e c r e t a r y .