18
REPORT OF THE LOCK HOSPITAL SAUGOR FOR 1876.
From Captain W. L. Noverre; Cantonment Magistrate, Saugor, to the Secretary to
the Chief Commissioner, Naqpur,—No. 227, dated Saugor, the 19 th February
1877.
I have the honor to forward the Medical Officer's annual Report on the
Saugor Lock Hospital for 1876. Owing to my absence on leave in 1874 and on
special duty in 1875, this is the first opportunity I have had of appending my
remarks to the Saugor Lock Hospital Report.
Attendance at inspections.
2. The attendance at inspections (para. 8 of the report) is much better
than last year, only 19 women having been absent with-
out permission, and none of these were found on inspection
to be diseased.
Amount of disease during the
year.
3. Cases of syphilis (para. 10 of the report) have decreased, both amongst
the men and the women, which is important. With the
women the cases of gonorrhœa are fewer, but amongst
the men there has been an increase of 7 cases compared
with last year (deducting 3 cases not acquired at Saugor and 12 cases of relapse).
The Medical Officer does not record any opinion regarding this increase in
gonorrhœa cases, but from what he writes in paras. 5, 6, and 12 of his report he
apparently sees but oue way of accounting for it, viz., that the Police are not
sufficiently on the alert to detect unlicensed prostitutes.
Registration and unlicensed
prostitution.
4. In para. 6 it is stated " that the registration has apparently not been
attended with success, at least during the past year ;" no
reason is given for arriving at this conclusion, and so far
as the registration of women consorting with European
soldiers is concerned, I can find no grounds for the statement. Again the
Medical Officer remarks in para. 12 that there are only 59 prostitutes in Saugor to
a population of 58,000 persons. This calculation is misleading, for in these figures
are included women and children ; then allowance must be made for the fact
that a very large proportion of the men in Saugor and surrounding villages are
married, as well as the men of both the Native Regiments, who have their
families with them in the lines : after making these deductions it may be true that
the number of women on the register does not exactly represent the actual
amount of prostitution ; but from enquiries I have made I have no reason to
think that the women who receive European soldiers escape registration. Several
unregistered women are well known to the Police to support themselves by
prostitution, but they are not common prostitutes accessible to every one, and are
in no case accessible to European soldiers. They are careful to arrange matters in
such a way that the Police cannot obtain sufficient evidence to secure their
registration. The City Inspector of Police assures me that a woman admitting
soldiers to her house could not conceal her calling, and there is, I think, no doubt
that this is true. My opinion as to the suppression of unlicensed prostitution is
supported by the fact that the Regimental Police have not captured a single
woman during the year soliciting soldiers in the vicinity of the barracks or else-
where, though this I am assured by the Officers Commanding is a special part of
their duty ; neither have the Cantonment Police made any arrests during the year
for this offence, and this, notwithstanding the empty buildings in the vicinity of
the barracks offer an unusual opportunity for such proceedins. I may add that
18 women have been added to the register during the year, of which 16 applied
voluntarily to be registered, and only 2 were sent up by the Police.