PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
TLC.O. 882
لتسلسلينا
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By Colonel Pennefather-Do many Malays (males) come to you?
Very few with venereal disease.
They have strong objections to going to any European?
I would not say that. Dr. Galloway does a good deal of work amongst Malays and Arabs.
In reply to further questions, witness stated that the Javanese, Siamese, and Malay girls along the Ladies' Mile were all more or less sick.
These girls never come to you?
No, the only one he had attended was a syphilitic Dutch half-caste from Batavia. He bad Siamese women occasionally.
Mr. Evans-Do
houses?
you consider
It is very hard to say.
you get worse cases from the brothels or from private
Have you got any record you could show to give the number of cases treated by you during the last five years?
I have kept statistics of the intra-muscular injections I have made; I could pro- duce those.
C.
Dr. C. P. Rogers, L.R.C.S.I., L.R.C.P. Ed., L.M. Ed., L.M. Coombe Lying-in Hos- pital, Dublin, was the next witness.
The Chairman-What nationalities of prostitutes do you for the most part attend? Chinese.
Do you attend them at their houses or do they come to you?
Sometimes I'go to their houses; sometimes they come to me.
Do many come to you?
Yes, a good many during the year.
Do they come voluntarily?
Yes.
Are you paid by the brothel-keepers or by the girls themselves!
I look to Mrs. McBreen for payment. She keeps a hospital for Chinese. When
If they are
the girls are not well they apply to her, and she recommends them to me. very bad I go to them; and if they are well enough to come they come to see me.
Colonel Pennefather-Males as well as females?
Yes.
The Chairman-Where is this hospital?
In Kampong Martin.
Do these women come to you of their own accord?
Yes, I don't think there is any compulsion upon them.
You look to Mrs. McBreen for payment?
Yes, they pay her so much a month, and when they die she buries them.
The brothel-keepers pay Mrs. McBreen?
I expect so.
She is the head of the whole thing?
She has nothing to do with the brothels beyond the hospital business. She is half a Chinawoman herself, and the Chinese have a strong objection to go anywhere unless there is a Chinese in charge. People go there from all over. There is a man there at present from Johore.
What is the size of this hospital. It must be a pretty big place.
It is a pretty big place, but she does not keep many beds. There are never many there at a time: five or six perhaps.
She gets only bad cases?
Yes, all the cases that go there are very bad. The Chinese won't look for treat- ment, they stop at home until they are very bad.
Dr. Simon-Do Chinese girls ever come to you from the brothels without being sent
by their keepers?
I know nothing beyond the fact that they come to me through Mrs. McBreen. Colonel Pennefather-None come to you except through Mrs. McBreen?
No.
GI
You don't think the brothel-keepers make them come?
I expect they say they are sick, then the brothel-keepers send them to Mrs. McBreen, because they pay her so much a month. The girls have their choice of either a Chinese doctor, who, of course, is only a quack, or myself.
From your experience, which class of prostitutes is most subject to venereal disease? I should say the German women, that is, the German, Austrian, Hungarian pro- stitutes, the women from Trieste.
They are all over the place, are they not?
They are not all in Malay Street. They have been hunted by the police out of North Bridge Road, but they settle down in their positions occasionally again.
You think they are very bad with disease as a rule?
I do. The fellows they keep frequently come to my place to ask for black wash and iodoform. Yes, the women keep the men.
Dr. Middleton-To keep order in the brothel?
I don't know that they do anything except spend the money that the women make. Don't they do anything for the women?
I don't know why they keep these fellows, unless to satisfy their woman's feeling, that they like to have a man at hand in case of emergency. The men go about well dressed, smoke the best brands of cigars, have a drink whenever they want one, and thrash the women if they want money and can't get it.
They take other men to the brothels?
I expect when they meet anyone they recommend him to the best place to go to. What form of disease do you think is most common?
Soft chancre and gonorrhea. I have only met about half a dozen cases of Hun- terian chancre, and I have had several cases of secondary syphilis. I have never met a case of syphilis in a woman. In men I have had several cases of secondary and tertiary syphilis.
When you find a woman diseased do you tell her that she must not have intercourse! Yes, but I don't think they do it.
Over what period has your experience of venereal disease in Singapore extended?
In Singapore, four years and six months.
Has venereal disease increased since you came here?
Undoubtedly, very much.
Do you find these women have any objection to being examined?
No, I don't believe they would have the slightest objection.
Mr. Gentle When you visit Chinese houses do the women offer any objection to
being examined?
No, not the slightest.
The Chairman-Do these women come forward and say they are diseased? Yes.
Mr. Evans-But when you go you go to visit particular cases?
Yes.
Mr. Gentle But when you go to visit one do others ever voluntarily ask to
be examined?
Yes.
The Chairman-Do you think there are still some in the brothels who do not come forward?
I could not say that.
Do you think it is possible they know that there is a hospital for them to go to? That I could not tell you. To tell you the truth, I did not know that the old Lock Hospital was still open to receive them until the other day.
Have you any idea of the number of prostitutes or brothels in Singapore?
I could not give any idea, although there are a great many. What between Malay Street and Sago Street, Sago Lane, and Bugis Street, and all the scattered ones besides, there must be an enormous number.
Have you ever seen any deaths amongst prostitutes from venereal disease? No.
How many have you got under treatment by the month!
Oh, about five or six in the month. There are only a few houses which Mrs. McBreen has got anything to do with. Sometimes even less than that.
That includes men and women?
That includes women only. With regard to the number of persons I treat, between male and female, I very often have 50 in the month.
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