The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-02-22 00:00:00

e orresponDence.

--
THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT AND THE
PORTLAND MEETING.
To the Editor. .

- -
SlK,—The report of the above meeting contained in
your last issue will be reed with amusement by soma,
and with amazement by ell who know anything of the
subject there so unwisely and unfairly treated.
Can it be possible that a meeting otherwise than
packed with mere partisan eould affirm a resolution
condemnatory of an Act of Parliament. which, con-
fessedly, no one present bad read for himself, and of
which a onesided view only eras presented—a view not
only plainly at variant* with facts of which the principle
speaker should have been aware, but one repugnant to
the feelings of humanity of at least a portion of thow
saembled.
I will just pint out • f .w of Mr. Ilogarth'e inaccur.
aides, regretting at the same time that he should have
been in grievously imposed upon, as the sequel will
show.
He states "that a pc/iceman might in his diveretion
arrest anylemals whom he suspected." ke. The facts
are these. The '.et is not enfortril by common onn•
stables but by Auperinlevients of poiice, men of tried
character, almost invariably of middle age and married,
and of course acting under a in 11/0 of responsibility. An
for their power to wrest any woman. the Idea is simply
atauri to hciiii with. Parliaments are not likely in
these days to grant such powers, nor, on the other hand,
are modern Englishmen likely to submit to such laws
supposing it .masittle for them to be enacted. As well
might itbe affirmed that • policeman might if ho chose
arrest ass man for highway rohbery. Practically there
hm been but one complaint of abase of power on the
pars of the police, with reference to this Act, arid to
prove the unreason.bleness of that one, I may stale
that the superintendent complained of was able to prove
when called upon that the ecenan in question had been
wen in • state of drunkenness coming out of • house of
ill-fame, accompanied by a posse of noisy and notorious
prostitutes.
Again, the woman on leaving hospital is said by Mr.
11. to reocims (ruin the doctor " a clean bill of health,"
which we are I suppose to believe she uses in plying
her disgrsoefal calling. Now the pr anoters of the
extension of the operation of the Contagions Diseases
Act have all along made it • isint that no such bill of
health should under any circumstances be given, and
not one over has been given. So much for the practical
working of the Act.

Now • few words on the ethic* of the question. They
must be very few, or should we dig deep we might
damage ancient foundations and endanger the somewhat
shaky superstructure.
The resolution that was tarried Bays, "That to
protect men from the consequences of tbrir own vices
I. demoralizing" its. I would venture to ask, does
there arid • Chri tins man or woman who would act
up to that doctrine in its entirety—who would refuse
to attempt the prevention of any evil consequence
likely to result from the practice of vies' For instance
woold any one dare to say that it is demoralising for
the authorities to make provisions against drunken men
falling into the harbour, wandering on to the line, or
lying in the open air exposed to death by freezing? Yet
all these cases taken together are trifiirg compared the
one case reprobated, inasmuch as the mischief is con-
fined within • very much narrower circle, and the
results are incomparably leas painfuL hit true, that
• comparative immunity from results now not mitre-
quently following as unclean life, will inevitably lead
he as aggravation of the sin?
I think not. Will it influence the utterly reckless.
men swayed by ;missions that, through mere violence or
more frequently through bad training when young, are
truly uncontrollable?
Then take the opposite extreme—the week and
foolish who are readily beguiled and are too inconse-
quent in all their ways to be likely to calculate
prob.bilities. These surely should be protected until
the Bev. lar. H. and his brethren shall have succeeded
in impressing sound morality on minds so amenable to
influence.

Take the case of the confirmed and consistent, yet
cautious, patron of sensuality, who proceeds in all cases
with dellberation—the cold blooded corrupter and corn.
passion of the already corrupted. This is not the man
for whom the Act is required. He suffers in body
little enough alreedy, and the mischief is confined
usually to himself ~rd his sinful associates. It is clear
that he could be mnde netther better nor worse by
legislation.
I will proceed no farther with classification, but
pass on to consider the effects of esthetic diatom on
the innocent, yes the innocent!
The public know little of these matters, little suspect
how large a proportion of the worst diseases owe their
origin to muses of this nature. Statistics have been
collected and it is now on reeord that one-fourth of
hospital cot-patients suffer in same way traceable to
this contagion, that one,fifth of the cases of eye
disense mates the same mum, one-seventh of the
oases of throat disease, and so on. And it must be
remembered that them eases are rarely earabile, though
mostly capable of alleviation, and worst of all, that
they are almost invariably transmitted from parent to
offspring—that eases are eonetantly being penetrated
where the husband has infected the wife, the wife the
husband, the nurse the child, the child the nurse, the
patient the medical adviser ii
What do the rev El gentlemen say of these mem?
What would they say were they among the unhappy
yet innocent victims? Can the yielding to the dicta-
tion of the strongest of the animal passions be
deserving of so great and allmmbrecing a punishment
as this? Ars we not rather suffering so greatly in
consequent), of our negligence in not attempting to
provide a remedy?
Why should not the prevention of enthetie disease
be as lawful as the prevention of cholera, typhus,
he., all of which diereses owe their origin to
neglect or defiance of natural laws, and mainly to the
disregard of personal cleanliness.
Lently, it is asserted by the resolution that the
measured proposed are." worthless for the permanent
Prevention or even mitigatton ot disease." What will
ingenuous Portlanders think of that statement side by
aide with sworn evidence, such LB the following. The
Attoniey.General of Hong-Kiang declares that the good
result.; of snob measures in that colony were marvellous,
until mpins were invented for evading the imperfectly
framed Act

Sir H. Storks gives evidence to the effeet that the
result of meaaurea takrn by bim daring his adminiatra.
lion of the affairs of Malta and the lonian Islands was
to almost literally extirpate the disease.
But without going abroad for examples, it can be
proved th 4 immense &mat has resulted from eve.
the partial application ot the Contagious Dermass
Act to certain garrison and dock-yard to•ns of thin
country ; not only bas the number oases diminished.
but their rieverity has been mitigated.
. .

And-besides them good rimultiiit lUs been found that
the bringing degraded women into contact with the
officiale of the hospital. bee bad • wonderful effect in
inducing return to respectable habits of lifs—as many
aq one-fourth of the inmates of the hospitals had been
returned to the homes of their friends, or provided
with honourable employment And, moreover, the
number of street-walkers had been permaneelly
reduced.
Let 030.1101 up by stating theta. the Act does not
tend to immured. ?lie, ea it does tend to protest the
inooolit from hum of whisb they are now the help.
lea. victims, as •t does not endanger the reasonable
lib-rty of respectable people. as It doss tend to the
reolemetioni of the abandoned, and se it grill iosvit-
able decrease the sum of human misery, it is the
bouudeo duty of every riglittnieded person to weed
U far a. he ran in the exieruion of the
egainst whiah the Portland meeting has so foolishly,
awl, I sin convinced, so ineffectually, protested. —Your
obedient servant,
GAMMA.
Weymouth, February 14, 1870.

Ils a 1/4ltor.
Rut,—The thanks of the community 6t iris .
tainly due to Messrs. Pewee sod Mr A. .Scri, 14.7 .
the excellent common sense which they err ine e lee „-
meatier,. at Portland, stalled for the purpose cll $
leg eligible{ the eztOneioa et an Act which has
worked most satisfactory.
Apart from the question raised it is much to, her
,g-
-gretted that when a public meeting is osi led fer..„ 7'
purpose the principal persona calling that $ teele,
should leave the real question untouched end .
titer views by roes misstatenients, thus rulyieirie7
•.
upon the prejurliee and ignwancre of their hear flra rh
• upon the simple merits of the question.
I refer more perti,olarly to the statements mmie .
the Rev. Mr 11Woriniek, who is reported to •
"that he bad net men the Act, nor whore Its y ihle
get one, nor where the meniber• of the Briti• h
meet able to get one, for it was not prink i..• 11`,*
lleCornich also furnished his hearers with the
information, th t " he had written to • in,
Parlament, who had stated that he himself w U
to obtain a sight of the Act until passed..
,niuggled throogh the last day of the session.
It
It is a pity that the name of this Member of P,
ment is not given, as he •ppeam to have
amusinglv ignorant of the rulea and regulation s
House of Commons as to call for special ins 111,
from the Spenker.
If Mr • McCormick applies to any local static nei
will, foes few pence. obtain a printed sty of ,l, Ar
Slob Mr. MaCornick states is not in print.
urther, I believe every Member of Perlis a, t
prespreset.,ted with a printed copy. of every Act. 11
osee fehe case with county magistrates, and man y
pohlie ob. oi
Further, every Bill, in other words an
..ry M. P. his •
Act, is prints sd• and ea. eePy•
Farther, the
rules of the House of Parliament pt,,,
an Act from ••ng smuggled through the lest '
he. m)
the Fi'saion.. • • ter:
tottfiireskregbear.ligii:.:tnihhtheiarebr:iuted:soointtoii4r7mn7.o:
Further, if mime
the platform in comm. '-
that simihr 400r/oar "". • 1- 0001
where they are licensed ts
a licence founded on the to. trd that ma truth is are an
it will be established aphid "Ter'
A oCINSTANT REA DE

AN EXPORT TRADE POB WEYMOI ill
To the aditar• .
Sill, -If you could And room in your
circulated paper for a few remarks that. 1
would be a great benefit to OUT ...?" You will ,idu
It is well mown there is within 50 miles of NC„
mouth, coal pits, with very gooil coals for toe
steam or gas purposes. And we see aware ti lere
demoted for coals in the SotAdib of Prime,
Spain. Now, if them meld be • 00133 '94/T fOTOIM
at Weymouth, with the support of lb. Great Wet ten
Railway Company, and the Somerset 4101h0r7 Owe sn
It would be a good investment for th• oborebolr
and this town at large.
Say to begin with, ham two meow boo t with Ii
straight of water. from 440 to 800 tons her. led. and rn
them on to run from Weymouth to Cher boars .„
male, goods, and paesengers, the outward fi eight
pay expenses and the homeward freight will I & pr. t:
to the company. As to getting • trade we
.hive
great advantage to work cheaper than the Ii rb,.
coal shipping porta in regard to freight, kc.
freight lOs, per ton from Newcastle to CheThOUt
from Weymouth to Cherbourg. that would MAIL
differentia on freight, and that would ricomii,nd Its
male to the coal merchants of France.
Ac to the Gnat of the coals, here the pitmen'• eau,
are lower in Somerset than at the North. We ha.,
railway run by the Somerset coal pita, the dictate.
not great from Weymouth, and we have • good Pm
to load the hosts, and plenty of room for the op.
trucks Aimee the Bridge. Our harbour dues are a ern:
dial less on ship and cargo than at the Northern Pon,
and labour is cheaper. With much lesa risk for
boats than from the North, the assurance will be r.ri
low, as Weymouth and Cherbourg are the finest .ad
safest ports in the English Channel.
As to the goods and passenger trade, our railer,.
run to all the manufacturing towns, so that goods it
be sent from the faciories and shipped cheaper than
Locdon or Southampton, as our local charges and
freight will be lower. Then as to back freight :lbs
South of !trance produces and ezoorm a quatitpy ol
fruit, eggs, poultry, Normandy cows, potatoes, .u:,
ha.,
There is another trade in: tbe season—to tab
goods and opals to the Spaniah ports in the Bay 1
Biscay and bring back cattle. We fled not confine in
trade to steam boats alone, as we could load ..thw
ships as well and send them to the bye porta.
Yours respectfully.
A WEYMOUTIIIAN.