( 6 )
The Agra and Muttra reports were forwarded with one covering letter, in which
the Commissioner records the opinion, applicable to both reports, that, as he has said
many times before and proved, the effectual suppression of venereal disease will
result from increased vigilance and care on the part of the regimental police, and not
from extended. registration of women.
Especially a considerable restriction of the men's right to wander at will through
native cities and bazaars must be effected.
(4)—ALLAHABAD.
29. During the year 1878 a monthly average of 136 women remained on the
register at Allahabad against 130 in 1877. The results of the managements have
been very unsatisfactory. The ratios of venereal cases per 1,000 of the European
garrison for the five years, 1874-78, have been 290, 244, 177, 185, and 354 respectively.
30. The Medical Officer reports that accommodation at the existing lock-
hospital exists for only 18 patients, whereas 28 patients were the daily average
number present for treatment during the year: so that for some portions of the year
it is certain that more than 28 were present.
The great increase of disease amongst the soldiers can hardly be explained satis-
factorily. But the medical officer thinks it may have been due to the fact that the
European garrison was changed during the year, the new soldiers being allowed to
wander to villages beyond the lock-hospital area, and to the fact that an unusual
number of soldiers passed through the station going to Malta or to the front. This
frequent passing of troops attracts vagrant women to the rest camp.
At the beginning of the year, of 100 young soldiers of the 22nd Regiment, over
40 contracted disease either at Deolali or Allahabad.
At the beginning of November over 200 men came for the 22nd, from amongst
whom a large comparative average contracted disease. A large number of men of the
field battery arrived from Benares diseased.
The main cause of the excessive disease is the presence of a very large number of
unlicensed women who are not interfered with or interrupted by the police. In so
scattered a station the regimental police cannot prevent this illicit intercourse.
Indeed, at Allahabad, in certain roads near the new cantonments and the rest
camp, and from the rest camp to the railway station, women openly solicit inter-
cours with Europeans, yet the medical officer has never heard of any one of these
women being arrested by the police. Indeed, the punishment of a woman practising
unlicensed prostitution is so difficult under the existing administration of the law
at Allahabad, that the medical officer expresses wonder that any women should be
found on the register there. The medical officer is of opinion that disease is not pro-
pagated by the registered women, but by unlicensed vagrant women plying their trade
on roads and in groves of trees. These women are very well known to the police, but
are seldom if ever arrested. Of 282 cases of absence from inspection, reported to the
Cantonment Magistrate, punishment was administered in 19 only. The sick amongst
the registered women included some cases of very serious primary syphilis. The
worst of these cases, however, were seen amongst unregistered women described above.
The medical officer accords much praise to Hira Lal, the medical subordinate
attached to the lock-hospital, for his professional knowledge, good temper, and tact in
management.
31. The Cantonment Magistrate agrees with the medical officer in thinking
that the excessive disease of the year was duo to the change of garrison, and to the
unusual number of vagrant women attracted to the rest camp by the large number of-
troops which passed through Allahabad during the year. Concerning the detection,
punishment, and registration of these women, the Cantonment Magistrate shows that he