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IRRAWADDY DIVISION.
From G. J. S. HODGKINSON, Esq., c.s., Commissioner of the Irrawaddy Division, to the Secretary to the
Chief Commissioner, British Burma,-No. 234, dated the 10th February 1882.
I HAVE the honour to submit in original the reports on the working of the lock-
hospitals in the Irrawaddy division which have been received from the Civil Sur-
geons in charge through the District Officer.
2. There are two lock-hospitals in this division,—one at Bassein managed
under Act XIV of 1868, and the other worked under the cantonment rules passed
under Act III of 1880. Each is of the 2nd class.
3. Statistics of the working of the lock-hospitals and the cost of their
maintenance are shown in the following table :—
Place.
E x t e n t o f p r o t e c t e d a r e a .
P o p u l a t i o n o f p r o t e c t e d a r e a .
N u b e r o f p r o s t i t u t e s .
N u m b e r o f p r o s t i t u t e s
f o u n d d i s e a s e d a t e x a m i -n
a t i o n s .
A v e r a g e n u m b e r o f p r o s t i -
t u t e s a t t e n d i n g p e r i o d i -
c a l e x a m i n a t i o n s .
N u m b e r o f w o m e n r e p o r t e d f o r
b r e a c h e s o f t h e l a w . N u m b e r b r o u g h t b e f o r e M a g i s -
trate.
F i n e s l e v i e d .
E x p e n d i t u r e .
1879.
1880.
1881. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1879. 880. 1881.
Square
miles.
Rs.
Rs. A. P.
Bassein
...
14 33,502 25.4
28.39 25.00 51
34
20 21.3 23. 22.72 14
1
5
1,931 1 6
Thayetmyo
...
196 38,236 23.6
25.59 23.92 50
67
53 19. 20'14 21.00 21
17 90
1,521 1 3
4. There is a slight decrease in the average number of prostitutes in the
register at each hospital. Attendance has improved, and there has been on the
whole less disease, particularly in Bassein. The disease is of a mild type.
5. The expenditure is at the rate of 77.2 for each prostitute at Bassein and
of 63.6 at Thayetmyo, but arrangements have been made for materially reducing
the cost of establishment at Bassein.
6. At the civil dispensary, Bassein, the number of persons treated for vene--
real diseases fell from 188 to 100.
7. Among the European troops at Thayetmyo, with an average strength of
1,518 men, there were 140 admissions for venereal disease. Deducting imported
cases and relapses, 97 is estimated as the number of cases acquired in the station,
being a ratio of 6 . 4 per cent. of average strength, against 5.5 in 1880. Among
598 Native troops there were three admissions, against none in 1880, when the
force consisted of 1,675 men.
8. Although disease among the troops appears to be getting more common,
no special steps have been taken to check the unlicensed prostitution which is
known to exist. It is to intercourse with unlicensed women that the Civil Sur-
geon attributes most of the disease, and it is hard to believe that, with the cordial
co-operation of the military authorities, nothing can be done in Thayetmyo to bring
these women under control.
9. At Bassein the effectual working of the Act is more difficult. In the
difference of opinion between the District Officer and the Civil Surgeon as to the
extent to which prostitution is practised by unregistered women, it is not easy to
decide whether the maintenance of the hospital should be continued or not on its
present footing. The general opinion, however, appears to be in favour of the
hospital being kept up ; and among the sailors it is probable that much disease
is prevented by the protection afforded.