19
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCK HOSPITAL, JUBBULPORE,
FOR THE YEAR 1882.
From Major W. L. Noverre, Cantonment Magistrate, Jubbulpore, to the Secretary
to the Chief Commissioner, Central Provinces, Nagpur,—No. 166, dated 6th
M arch 1833.
I have the honor to forward the Report on the working of the Lock Hospi
- t a l a t t h i s s t a t i o n f o r t h e p a s t y e a r , w i t h t h e c o p y o f a R e s o l u t i o n p a s s e d t h e r e o n
by the Cantonment Committee.
2. I beg to record the following remarks.
3. The number of prostitutes on the register at the close of the year under
report was 61, being 5 less than at the close of the preceding year. The attend-
ance at inspections has been good, the number reported for non-attendance
being 25 against 39 in the year 1881. In many of these cases the women
were not, strictly speaking, " absent from inspection." 20 women so reported had
left the station without applying to have their names removed from the register,
consequently the number of women actually in the station and absent from
inspection was only 5.
4. The returns of venereal disease amongst the British Soldiers of the
garrison show a large increase, there having been 314 admissions into the hospi-
tal in the year under report against 199 admissions in 1881. The cases of
disease amongst the registered women show an increase as compared with the
previous year ; but this
5.
is due to the large number of cases of leucorrhæa, not
strictly speaking a venereal disease ; the cases of syphilis and gonorrhœa show
a considerable decrease, namely 18 cases of syphilis and 47 of gonorrhœa during
the year under report, against 25 of syphilis and 63 of gonorrhœa in the year
1881.
6. This shows that the large amount of disease amongst the men was not
contracted from the registered prostitutes but from unregistered women ; when
the men consort chiefly with registered women, an increase of disease amongst
the men invariably produces a corresponding increase of disease amongst the
women. Every exertion has been made to discover the source of the disease
amongst the men but without any very satisfactory result ; the men as usual
could not be induced in a single case to point out the women who diseased them.
The disease rose considerably in the month of March and when all efforts to
trace the cause to unregistered women in the Cantonment bazar, and amongst
women servants employed about the barracks had failed, I obtained permission
from the Deputy Commissioner to employ some men specially to detect unlicensed
women in the city and suburbs of Jubbulpore : this resulted in 14 women being
detected in May and June, 6 of whom admitted that they received European
soldiers, 8 of them confessed to having been on the register at some former time,
and out of the 14, 12 were found to be diseased, all with one or two exceptions
were of the lowest class and likely to consort with European soldiers.
7. As the disease continued to be excessive, I suggested to the Officer
Commanding the station that the men should be prohibited altogether for a time
from visiting the city of Jubbulpore ; orders to this effect were accordingly
given in September and appeared to result in a decrease of the disease as seen
by the admissions into hospital for the last half of September, October and
first week of November. The prohibition was continued till the close of the
year, but in the latter part of November and in December the cases amongst the
men again showed an increase, probably owing to the men visiting the city in
spite of the prohibition or elsewhere obtaining access to unlicensed women. It
may be assumed that but for the measures described, and but for the detection
of the 14 unlicensed women referred to (12 of them diseased), there would
have been many more cases of disease than there have been.