REPORTS ON "THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT, 1867," BY INSPECTORS OF POLICE.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1886 Session I, H-39

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1886. NEW ZEALAND.

REPORTS ON "THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT, 1867," BY INSPECTORS OF POLICE.

Laid on the Table by the Hon. Mr. Tola, with the heave of the House.

AUCKLAND. Inspector Thomson to the Commissioner of Constabulary. I fully concur in the opinion herein expressed by Detective Hughes as to the beneficial effect of the working of this Act in Auckland. 21st July, 1886. J. Bell Thomson, Inspector.

Detective Hughes to Inspector Thomson. Detective Office, Auckland, 21st July, 1886. J. Bell Thomson, Esq., Commanding Armed Constabulary, Auckland. Bepoet re the working of the Contagious Diseases Act in Auckland, for the year ending the 31st March, 1886 :— The number of prostitutes under the Act on the Ist April, 1885, and number who signed voluntary submission and number summoned before the Police Court and proved prostitutes during the year, is 106. The number detained in the lock hospital for the year was 51, including 39 patients, eleven of whom were admitted twice, and one three times. The number of days they were under medical treatment is 1,649 ; the average number of days under medical treatment is about thirty-two days. The greatest number detained at one time was 8, and the least number 2 ; the longest detention was 141 days, and the shortest seven days. The different diseases treated at the hospital were gonorrhoea, simple, acute, and chronic ; vulvitis ; syphilis, primary, secondary, and tertiary ; condylomata ; venereal sore throats; and uterine hemorrhage. The different religions professed by the females detained during the year were—Protestants (under various denominations), 25 ; Boman Catholics, 14. The number of voluntary submissions during the year was 13. Five of these came from the Salvation Army Befuge Home, and one from Mrs. Cowie's home, at Parnell. The following statement gives the number of prostitutes reformed by the working of the Act for the year, and number left for other parts of the colony, and under what circumstances the reform has been made : Number of prostitutes reformed by the ladies of the Parnell Home and the Salvation Army Befuge, and are now in situations and leading a respectable life, 14; number married and reformed, 3; number living with men, not married, but given up a life of prostitution, 4; number reformed and gone to service and now leading respectable lives, 12 ; number deceased during the year, 2 ; number left for other parts of colony to avoid the Act, 25 : total, 60. The number of prostitutes reformed and left for other parts of the colony shows a decrease of sixty in favour of the Act. The two females deceased did not die in the lock hospital. They were patients, but cured and discharged and reformed. One died at Avoudale, when in service, of lung disease; and the other died of heart disease, living at the time of her death with her husband. There is no doubt that the working of the Contagious Diseases Act in Auckland has a deterrent effect on young girls, who would lead a life of prostitution if it were not for the Act. The working of the Act has been the cause of keeping prostitutes off the streets, and soliciting prostitution is now unknown in the streets of Auckland. The conduct of the patients in the hospital has been very good ; the matron has not made a single complaint against any of them for breach of hospital regulations. The number punished during the year for not attending medical examinations has been 7 ; one received two months' imprisonment with hard labour, and the remainder seven days' each hard labour. The number of examinations at the hospital during the year was 24, held on the first and third Monday in each month; the average number attending for examination is 40. The highest number for examination at one time has been 50. The difference between the number to attend and did not is accounted for by there being a certain number always in gaol, and the others in the different homes being reformed. The ladies of the Parnell Home, and also the Salvation Army matron, do their best for every prostitute that is willing to reform : they attend the hospital in person, and any of the discharged patients that are willing to go to the homes are taken away in a cab, and taken to the home, where

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they are kept for a reasonable time, and a respectable situation is obtained for them as servants upcountry, where they are away from the temptations of city life. Of course the efforts of these ladies are not always successful, for they have taken the same girls into the home three and four times, and they have broken out again, but in most cases they are successful; and these homes have always been open for those unfortunate prostitutes when discharged from the lock hospital. During the year constitutional syphilis has very much diminished in the City of Auckland. The women—those that are registered under the Act, and others who had voluntarily submitted to medical examination—have publicly expressed gratitude for the benefits received by them from the institution. Cases of the most deplorable suffering have been brought to the hospital by Mrs. Bishop Cowie, Mrs. Brame, Mrs. Hutchinson, and Miss Davey of the Salvation Army Befuge. In some cases young girls whose ages range between fourteen and eighteen years, who made voluntary application for treatment, were so frightfully diseased as to prevent them from walking or sitting. Several of the inmates who were treated at the hospital have married and settled in life; others have gone back to their homes; others have been taken into Mrs. Bishop Cowie's home and the Salvation Home, reformed, and are in situations. The introduction of the Act in the City of Auckland has been a great boon to that class of suffering humanity, aided as it has been by those ladies aforementioned, who have been unremitting in their efforts to reclaim those of them who are not past all control or reformation. Edward Hughes, Detective No. 307.

CHBISTCHUBCH. Inspector Pender to the Commissioner of Constabulary. New Zealand Constabulary, Inspector's Office, Sir,— Christehurch, 22nd July, 1886. In compliance with the request contained in your telegram of yesterday re the non-enforce-ment of the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Act, I have the honour to inform you that its operations in this district ceased on the 28th February, 1885, in accordance with the Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette, 1884, page 1685. In my opinion the Act conduced to the better moral as well as physical health of the community, inasmuch as the periodical medical inspection of the women checked the spread of disease, while the dread entertained by many women of such inspection deterred them from joining the ranks of the prostitutes. In proof of this I may state that their number has greatly increased since my letter of the 30th June, 1885, and that I have noticed their conduct to be more reckless and abandoned, and that their habits of cleanliness seem to be more neglected than when the provisions of the Act were in force. Inquiries made about the city tend to show that cases of venereal disease are also on the increase, an almost certain result of the cessation of the Act. I have, &c, The Commissioner, Armed Constabulary, P. Pender, Wellington. Inspector in Charge, Christehurch District. {Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, nil; printing(l,2socopies), £1 4s.j

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