REPORT

ON

LOCK-HOSPITALS, BRITISH BURMA,

FOR THE YEAR 1881.

ARAKAN DIVISION.

From Colonel E. B. SLADEN, M. S. C., Commissioner of the Arakan Division, to the Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner, British Burma,—No. 112-11—5, dated the 11th February 1882.

     I HAVE the honour to submit, for the information of the Chief Commissioner,
report in original by the Civil Surgeon on the working of the lock-hospital,
Akyab, during the year 1881, with separate remarks thereon by the Assistant
Commissioner in charge of the Akyab Town division and the District Magis-
trate.

     2.   My own opinion, in spite of certain drawbacks, relating chiefly to the
absence of effective supervision, is that the hospital is answering a good purpose,
and that the work performed during the past year has caused a diminution in
disease and indirectly contributed therefore to sanitation and health.

     3.   As remarked in previous reports, the difficulty of successfully exercising
police interference for the purpose of giving full effect to the Act is felt every-
where, and is not peculiar to Akyab. The District Magistrate is of opinion that
further police interference is unnecessary. He thinks that policemen would abuse
their powers and act oppressively. My own opinion, however, of the police is that
when powers of interference are given over the subject, it is not often that they
are allowed to remain unexercised. It is not improbable, I think, in the present
instance that the failure on the part of the police to report clandestine prostitution
is not so much an abuse of powers resulting from non-interference as interference
in the first instance, followed by abuse of power in omitting for a valuable considera-
tion to report well-known cases.

     4.   The Civil Surgeon is able to show that venereal disease in its worst
form is not infrequently treated at the General Hospital amongst unregistered
Arakanese females. He pertinently points to the probabilities of a large spread
of the disease occasioned by these very women previous to their final resort to the
public hospital, and is of opinion, not unreasonably I think, that the police are
at fault, and that a reminder is necessary to let them remember that the control
of prostitution forms an important part of their ordinary duties.

     5.   Steps are being taken by the Civil Surgeon and Port Officer to obtain
the information called for in Chief Commissioner's Resolution No. 63M., dated
the 10th June 1881. The reports when received will be duly submitted.

Remarks by Captain C. H. E. ADAMSON, Deputy Commissioner, Akyab, on the Akyab Lock-hospital report
for 1881.

     THE lock-hospital was formerly under the control of the Town Magistrate
of Akyab. When that office was abolished it remained under the control of the
Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Akyab sub-division. I am not in
favour of the police interfering more than necessary in matters regarding the lock-
hospital, as it opens a wide door for abuse and oppression. If the prostitutes
come to the lock-hospital to be registered of their own accord it is most satisfac-
tory, showing as it does that the institution is appreciated.