RESOLUTION

ON THE

REPORT ON LOCK-HOSPITALS

IN

LOWER BURMA

FOR

The year 1886.

Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner, Burma, in the General Department,—No. 10S.
dated the 15th April 1887.

      READ—

        Report of the Sanitary Commissioner on the working of the several lock-hospitals in Lower Burma
for the year 1886, with remarks by the Deputy Surgeon-General, Her Majesty's Forces,
Lower Burma Division.

      RESOLUTION.—Lock-hospitals were maintained during the year at Rangoon,
Toungoo, Thayetmyo, and Bassein, and till September 1886 at Akyab. In that
month the hospital at Akyab was closed by the Municipal Committee, who had
hitherto managed it. The Government grant for its maintenance will in future
be employed on general sanitary purposes. No alterations were made during the
year in the buildings of the various hospitals, which are reported to be suitable for
the purpose for which they are used.

      2. Venereal disease was more prevalent among the European troops during
the year under review than in previous years. The average strength of the garri-
sons in Rangoon, Thayetmyo, and Toungoo was 1,349 as against 1,861 in 1885 ;
the number of admissions was 353 as against 370 in that year. These figures
exclude imported cases and relapses, the number of which increased from 22 to
111. The ratio per mille of admissions was 261.73 as against 198.8 in 1885.
This large increase was entirely due to the greater prevalence of venereal disease in
Rangoon. In Thayetmyo and Toungoo there was a slight decrease. The large
increase of cases in Rangoon is ascribed by the Medical Officer to the frequent
changes in the troops composing the garrison of that town during the year. The
increase in the number of imported cases is said to be mainly due to the fact that
the European troops at Toungoo and Thayetmyo were largely employed during
the year on outpost duty in the interior.

      3. The number of prostitutes licensed during the year under review was
342 as against 303 in 1885. There was a very large increase, namely, from
271 to 453, in the number of prostitutes whose names were removed from the
rolls. In Rangoon the number of such removals rose from 190 to 378. This
large increase is not explained in the report ; but, taken with other statistics, it
must probably be ascribed in great part to lax working of the rules. The
statistics of punishments show that the rules were enforced with less stringency
during the year under review than in former years. The number of women ar-
rested for practising unlicensed prostitution decreased from 222 to 62. Of these