PUBLIC
RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
TC.O. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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abolished) out of an average of 682.8 men in barracks the average admissions to hospital from that cause were 434.17 per mille; that is to say, an increase of 289.92 per mille on the earlier period.
The following details are given with regard to the different regiments and the duration of their stay in Singapore, the last year being the worst, as can be seen by these annual averages of admission to hospital:-
Year.
1892
Strength in barracks. 647
Admissions per mille. 330.76
(The third year of the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment.
1893
618
265.37
1894
(The first year of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, from India.)
748
348.93 (The second year of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, from India.) 1895
753
617.53
(The third year of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment.)
1896
728
567.30
(The first and only year of the 5th Fusiliers, from India.) Attention is directed to the disastrous cumulative effects of a prolonged stay of a battalion in Singapore, as in the case of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment.
7. When making the statements A and B, Brigade-Surgeon Lieut.-Colonel H. H. Stokes wrote as follows:-"It will be observed that a comparison has been made between a period of five years under the C. D. O. and a similar period since its repeal, as shown in Tables A and B, the latter giving an increase of admissions of 289.92 per 1,000. These statistics speak for themselves, and are conclusive in showing the pro- gressive increase in venereal disease since the repeal of the C. D. O.
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"Ulcer of the penis has been omitted from these statistics, as it cannot be stated "with certainty what percentage of admissions are due to venereal, but no doubt a large percentage is of venereal origin. Of the sickness in this command 50 per cent. is of venereal origin. The character of the disease is, in my opinion, of a severe type.
"Last year there were 181 admissions for secondary syphilis, one of which died, and seven invalided home, viz., four for discharge the service, and three for change. or three sores took on a phagedenic character.
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With regard to the re-enactment of the C. D. O., partial measures will not meet "with success, and if a re-enactment of the Act be adopted, it must be in its entirety.
"The recommendations suggested are these:-
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"1. That all prostitutes be registered, especially in houses where soldiers
are in the habit of frequenting.
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2. That they be subjected to medical inspection weekly.
3. There should be a Lock Hospital for the reception of infected women, and no prostitute be allowed to be treated in her own quarters.
"There are a certain class of women who do not wish it to be known that they commit prostitution; these, I consider, are the greatest danger to the community.
"The above suggestions are the views of the medical officers here."
8. It is within the knowledge of this Association that the China Association has recently submitted to the Colonial Office a statement* of the past and present condition of the Hongkong Garrison in relation to venereal disease, and the following comparison with the state of the Singapore Garrison at Tanglin Barracks (taking the figures given by the China Association) is most instructive as showing the greater extent and viru- lence of the disease in the latter Settlement.
Admission into hospital-ratio of disease per mille:-
In Hongkong in 1884
Singapore
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In Hongkong in 1896
Singapore
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145.0
123.41
359.87
567.30
In Singapore the admissions into Hospital for secondary syphilis were, in 1884, 5 cases out of a strength of 551 men, and in 1896, 143 cases out of a strength of 728 men.
9. The R. A. and detachment infantry stationed at Fort Canning are surrounded by facilities for the most dangerous class of prostitution, and the actual record there must be even worse; although, owing to the break up of the R. A. into two canton- ments, the data of comparison are not conveniently available.
• See No. 17.
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10. As to the Navy, the statistics are not available at Singapore. Captain Bruce, of H.M.S. "Orion," which left this station in the early part of 1890, stated that more than half the ship's company had been in hospital with venereal during the year.
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11. In the Minutes of proceedings of the Municipal Commission, dated October 10th, 1889, in a preliminary report of a Committee to enquire into the question of the C. D. O., this passage occurs:-" Your Committee have had submitted to them a letter from Mr. Lavino, Consul-General for Netherlands India, stating that he had been offi- cially informed that among the crew of H.N.M.S. "Van Speyk," which arrived in Singapore on August 21st with a clean bill of health, and left again on September 12th for Rhio (a period of three weeks' stay), 42 cases of venereal disease had appeared."
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This is a picture of what may occur to the crews of ships like the "Van Speyk," which have to be two or three weeks in dock. What happens to the crews and passen- gers of troopships, regular mail steamers, and the mercantile marine during a twenty- four hours' stay here there is no means of knowing.
It is understood that since the experience of the "Van Speyk" the ships of the Netherlands Government are instructed not to remain at Singapore longer than abso- lutely necessary for coaling or repair.
12. Staff-Surgeon Cropley, H.M.S. "Iphigenia," now on this station, gives the actual number of cases contracted in Singapore since the ship's arrival on the station in March as 23 out of a ship's company of 270 in five months. This would give, not allow- ing for any cumulative effects, 55 for twelve months. It is, however, to be noted that this ship lies nearly two miles from shore, that bluejackets have far less frequent oppor- tunities of leisure on shore than soldiers have, and that the ship is very often absent on health cruises, and went on a voyage to the Cocos Islands and Batavia during the period of report.
13. As regards the state of the civil community, it is more difficult to speak. The official records here are the hospital reports, the jail reports, and other auxiliary sources of information, such as police reports and lunatic asylum reports.
14. Dr. M. F. Simon (the Principal Civil Medical Officer) says in his general report for 1895:--" The number of cases of venereal disease continues to be immense, and is slightly greater for 1895 than it was for 1894. The deaths from secondary " and tertiary syphilis show a marked increase-111 patients having died in hospital
from this disease in 1895, against 76 in 1894.”
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Dr. Simon testifies in his next report (for 1896) to the continued increase of disease as traced in hospital returns. He says (para. 9):- “The number of cases of venereal "disease admitted was considerably greater than that for 1895, viz., 2,301, as against 2,002, and the deaths from secondary and tertiary syphilis reached a total of 135, as against 111 in 1895, and 76 in 1894.'
In the civil hospitals of the Colony taken altogether there has been an increase in the numbers of cases since 1889, much the greater part of which is due to Singapore, where the disparity of sexual distribution is greatest. The proportion of deaths to total treated has risen from 2.37 in 1889 to 5.80 in 1895. "This," Dr. Leask states, "is a high death-rate for this class of diseases, thereby showing the increased virulence of the disease."
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15. "The admissions to the Singapore Lunatic Asylum showing undoubted signs "of present or past syphilis were 4 per cent. in 1890, 6.50 per cent. in 1891, and 18 per cent. in 1892.”—Dr. W. G. Ellis, in his Presidential Address to the British Medical Association (Straits Branch), January, 1893.
16. In the annual report of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital for 1889, the Committee, with reference to their financial position, stated:-_-" It was resolved that it might become necessary to exercise some restriction as to admissions to the Hospital, and as en- quiries showed that the increase in admissions was largely due to cases of venereal disease the Committee considered that such restriction, if found necessary, should be brought to bear on that class of cases. They therefore notified the Govern- ment that should the number of admissions continue to be so great as to cause au excess of expenditure over available funds, and to overcrowd the Hospital, they must decline, after 31st March next, to admit cases of venereal disease, except in extreme
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cases.
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'The Committee came to this resolution with extreme regret, in view of the fact that in the whole of the Settlement this is the only hospital open to the poor. They were, however, of opinion that the increase in the number of venereal cases was the
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