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mans, who rarely resort to a public prostitute, but who do visit those who
practise clandestine prostitution and thus run the risk of getting the disease.
XI.—How far dhaies are employed, and with what success.
Dhaies have never been employed.
XII.—Any information on other matters or suggestions for the improvement of the rules.
In reply to the Chief Commissioner's Resolution No. 4002-63M., with refer-
ence to the advisability or otherwise of keeping up the lock-hospital at this
station, I beg to offer the following remarks :—
(1). The absence of troops in this station is considered as one Of the grounds
for abolishing the lock-hospital from this station.
It is argued that, as there are no troops, no Government servant benefits in
this town by Government keeping up the expenses of the hospital. .This is only
partially true, because the most important part of the police force, namely, that
formed by the Natives of India, does benefit by it. But leaving the question of
Government servants aside, lock-hospitals ought to be classed with institutions of
charity. A lock-hospital can do quite as much good as a civil dispensary can ;
one is the preventive whilst the other is curative, and " prevention is better than
cure."
(2). It is remarked that the number of prostitutes on the register is too
small to supply the wants of a rising population such as that of Bassein, and there-
fore the hospital ought to be done away with. Now, any one who knows this
province will be perfectly satisfied in his mind. that this is no argument at all,
because the bulk of the population, more especially in Burma, resort to the married
state of life, and hardly ever visit a prostitute, especially the one appearing on the
register and living in a public brothel. It is the foreigners, especially Natives of
India (who are in numbers in every town, in the Public Works Department, in the
Survey Department, the Municipality, in merchants' godowns, &c.) and occasional
visitors, that are left to the mercy of these depraved public women ; and I think
for their benefit a lock-hospital ought to be maintained quite as much as for the
rest of the public.
(3). The observations made as to the actual regular annual increase of
venereal diseases requires, to my mind, much qualification, more especially in
large shipping towns.
The dispensary records, from which alone these statistics are taken, do not
show whether the cases treated were from the : town itself or only from those who
only passed through the town, and the men availed themselves of the opportunity
given them of getting cured while in port.
Then again as dispensaries are getting popular year by year, and the number
of patients increasing, so there ought to be a proportionate increase in the num-
ber of admissions from venereals also.
I think a more satisfactory way of judging the good results of the lock-hospi-
tal will be to compare the ratio of admissions from venereals to the total admis-
sions.
The table given in paragraph X is repeated here, and from it it will be observed
that the disease is not on the increase, but quite the reverse. So this argument
does not remain tenable either.
Years.
Total admissions.
Admissions from
syphilis.
Admissions from
gonorrhœa.
Ratio of syphilis
to 1,000 of total
admissions.
Ratio of gonorr-
hœa to 1,000 of
total admissions.
1880
. . .
6,685
118
70
17
10
1881
. . .
6,597
60
40
9
6
(4). Now comes the question of expense. No doubt Government do spend
large sums of money every year on lock-hospitals, but the sums need not be so
large in every case. As for instance, in this very hospital, much saving would
have been effected by a little more judicious arrangement.