I understand from Dr ... as also Ayres and his colleagues from the unofficial practitioners in the Colony whom I have interrogated on the subject that under the present Medical Staff the Contagious Diseases Act of 1867 is so perfectly applied, and the supervision over suspected persons so strictly maintained, that a marked diminution in the number of inmates at the Lock Hospital could not but follow.
At a glance at the Blue Book Returns will confirm this statement and will show that the number of patients has been annually thinning till now the average stands at 15, the minimum having been 3, and the maximum 55.
With regard to the latter it should however be stated that it was as far back as 1874 that the building was designed to accommodate as many as 100 beds. The consequence is that a great deal of room is wasted, and the larger portion of the wards remain empty. Does there appear to be any probability of their being again wanted?
I am advised too that the periodical medical examination of European women, provided by the Act, was never put in force under anything like a proper system until ... 1843