283
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
EPIC.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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(a) Certain criticisms were made of the composition and report of the Straits Settlements Venereal Diseases Committee:→
(i) The Committee was composed entirely of doctors, whereas the matter could not be regarded as purely medical
(ii) The statistics quoted by the Committee as regards the prevalence of venereal disease at Singapore were based on the private practice of the medical witnesses, who were presumably "experts" in venereal disease, and the statistics were therefore coloured by the nature of that practice.
(iii) The report suffered from a lack of definite evidence.
III. It was decided that the Secretary of State should be asked to arrange for the appointment of a representative of the Home Office to the Committee.
IV. It was decided that the second meeting of the Committee should be held
at the Colonial Office on Wednesday, the 18th of February, at 4 p.m.
30th January, 1925.
9431
No. 17.
MINUTES OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL HYGIENE, HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 1925, AT 4 P.M.
Present:
SIR GILBERT GRINDLE, K.C.M.G., C.B. (in the Chair).
LADY ASTOR, M.P.
DR. F. J. H. COUTTS, C.B.
J. H. HARRIS, ESQ.
COLONEL D. HARVEY, C.M.G., C.B.E.
A. B. MACLACHLAN, ESQ.
DR. A. E. HORN, C.M.G.
MRS. C. NEVILLE ROLFE, 0.B.E.
SURGEON-COMMANDER T. B. SHAW, R.N.
E. B. TURNER, Esq., F.R.C.S.
DR. J. DOUGLAS WHITE.
D. BEATTY, ESQ., Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Straits Settlements.
W. T. CHAPMAN, ESQ., Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Federated Malay States. DR. A. BOSTOCK HILL.
H. BECKETT, Esq., Colonial Office.
G. H. CREASY, Esq., Secretary.
I. THE Minutes* of the First Meeting of the Committee were approved.
II. With reference to paragraph III of the Minutes of the First Meeting
It was announced that Mr. S. W. Harris, C.B., C.V.O., had been nominated as representative of the Home Office on the Committee.
III. Dr. Bostock Hill and Mr. Beatty gave evidence before the Committee regarding the question of Venereal Disease at Singapore.
(a) Dr. Bostock Hill stated that he had had forty years' experience of work in connexion with the administration of public health, including Venereal Disease, in the United Kingdom and had spent four months in Singapore, where he had studied the question on the spot. He explained that, while he had made extensive inquiries there, he had not done so with a view to furnishing a report, and that he had approached the local problems with an entirely open mind.
The first fact that had to be recognized was that the conditions at Singapore must be judged by themselves, and that, having regard especially to the mentality of the Chinese, methods of dealing with Venereal Disease which had been successful in Europe could not be applied to Singapore without considerable modification.
He had found that public opinion in Singapore as a whole was absolutely in favour of measures being taken on the lines of those recommended by the Straits Settlements Venereal Diseases Committee, 1923, but he was of the opinion that the measures recommended by the Committee would not be effective. He put forward the following proposals :-
* No. 16.
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(4) The preventive side of the Medical Service should be largely increased. Too little money was spent on the flealth Department, and the staff available was totally inadequate. It was subsequently pointed out that in Singapore the Municipal Health Officer is entirely independent of the Government Medical Department and is responsible only to the Municipal Commissioners. (ii) Extensive propaganda should be distributed with the assistance of the officials of the Chinese Protectorate, of a kind suited to the Chinese population.
(iii) Free diagnosis and free treatment should be provided.
(iv) The attention of prostitutes should be drawn to the importance of cleanliness, and to the opportunities of treatment, which should be obtainable privately, easily, and close at hand.
(v) The local branch of the National Council for Combating Venereal Disease should be urged to increase its activities.
(b) Mr. Beatty explained to the Committee the present position as regards "known " and "sly" prostitutes respectively.
(i) The known prostitutes, of whom there were 1,481 on the 31st December, The girls are not registered, but 1923, live in brothels in definite brothel areas. their names and houses are known to the Chinese Protectorate, and no girl is allowed
to become an inmate of a brothel until attempts have been made to dissuade her from that course, and it is clear that she is really desirous of entering the brothel. The girls are free to leave the brothels at any time, and each year during the last few years an average of about 500 have in fact left, viz., 400 to take up respectable Each girl receives a card, warning any person occupations, and 110 to follow men. who attempts to prevent her. from coming to see the Protector that he is liable to prosecution; it does not, however, contain any advice as to preventive measures, and Mr. Beatty did not consider that it would be useful to have such information printed thereon. (N.B.-As a rule they cannot read.)
The brothel keepers engage European or European-trained doctors to examine the girls once a fortnight. Two hospitals are maintained by the brothel keepers, and the girls, if infected, are removed to hospital and do not return to the brothels until they are certified free. The doctors receive so much per head per month. Some of the girls enter the Kwang-Wai-Shiu Free Hospital or the Venereal Wards at the Kandong Kerbau Government Hospital, which provides free treatment.
Only China-born Chinese men are received in the known brothels, which are occupied by Cantonese girls only.
(ii) The number of sly prostitutes was, before 1921, comparatively small, but, after the removal of the European prostitutes in 1916 and the return of the Japanese prostitutes to Japan in 1920-21 under pressure from the Japanese Consul-General, the number increased very largely, and is now estimated to be over 1,500. There has been a consequent large increase in the incidence of Venereal Disease.
These sly prostitutes are chiefly Eurasians, Japanese, Malays, and Chinese other than Cantonese; they are scattered all over the town of Singapore. They undergo no medical examination. They suffer at the hands of the police, brothel bullies, and informers to a much greater extent than the known prostitutes, and many of them would prefer to be recognized and to come under the protection of the Chinese Protectorate, which has received many applications in this sense; but, owing to the outcry that would be raised by a certain section of the community, it has not been considered advisable to recognize them.
Mr. Beatty expressed the opinion that, in any case, from the point of view of the Chinese Protectorate, both for protective and health purposes effective protec- tion could only be given to the sly prostitutes if they were settled in "known brothels in a brothel area. The Chinese Protectorate had already the legal powers necessary to control such known brothels, but further segregated areas would be required.
IV. The following points were brought out in discussion:— (i) Treatment.-Free treatment and diagnosis are already provided by the Government, but it is very difficult to induce the Chinese coolie class to take advan- tage of the facilities.
(ii) Propaganda-Written propaganda is almost useless in view of the illiteracy of the immigrant Chinese population, of whom 80 per cent. were said to be illiterate.