Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Contagious Diseases Acts
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
794/952 page 696
![Mr. It. W. Dunn, M.R.C.S. 8 May 1871. FORTY- 19,278. Can j'ou say tiiat a jmre-inimTed woman THIRD DAY. may not be brought in contact with a diseased man? —Of course she may. 19.279. Her husband?—A husbaud may give dis- ease to his Avife, and frequently does. 19.280. And that disease may have been contracted in one of these brothels ?—It may have been. 19.281. At all events I will take your answer to be, that while you consider that Government may in- terfere to prevent a driver making use of his cab in a manner which may lead to the propagation of disease, you are not prepared to say that Government ought to interfere with the brothel-keeper who carries on his trade in such a manner as creates disease ?—Most decidedly. I do not think Government ought to interfere at all. 19.282. With regard to hospitals you stated, I think, that you thought that Parliament would not grant money for the establishment of hospitals ?—I think it is more probable that it will not. 19.283. Are you aware that Government does grant money for such a purpose ?—To Lock Hospitals ; but that is only for soldiers and sailors, and I believe some for the ordinary class of people, but practically for their own servants. 19.284. Are you aware that one important part of the operation of these Acts is the fact that Govern- ment have provided hospital accommodation in sub- jected districts ?—Yes ; l^nt then it is to protect their own servants, not the public so much. They are for the class of prostitutes whom soldiers and sailors go with principally, not the class the civil people go witli 60 much. 19.285. That no doubt is the fact, but do you see any reason to suppose that simply because these Acts which require compulsory examination of Avomen in the subjected districts were repealed Parliament would refuse to grant support to these district hos- pitals ?—I think very likely it Avould. Of course I cannot say whether it would or not. 19.286. However, you speak to this clearly, you think the public benevolence is more likely to be exerted in support of voluntary hospitals for this disease in consequence of the greater interest that is now taken in the question ?—No doubt. 19.287. That you have no doubt about whatever ?—• That I have no doubt about whatever. 19.288. Can you state from your own knowledge, that notwithstanding the careful arrangements made in Paris for the prevention of this disease, there is still a large amount of venereal disease in Paris ?— Certainly I can. I can give this instance, the last time I was in Paris about 200 women were examined at the Sanitary Office, and out of the registered women those diseased were about one in twenty, and out of the non-registered those diseased were about one in three, the latter being clandestine prostitutes. 19.289. Then in point of fact the disease was much more prevalent amongst the clandestine prosti- tutes than amongst the registered prostitutes ?—No doubt about it, and it is the same in this country at the i^resent moment; it is the clandestine prostitutes who distribute disease about this country, not the regular prostitutes. 19.290. Now, with regard to the regulation of prostitutes in Paris, did you make yourself acquainted with the police regulations with reference to women there ?—To a certain extent I did, but not thorough^. 19.291. Are you aware that the police are not dis- posed to bring under the register any Avomen unless they have very strong and repeated evidence of the fact of their being public prostitutes ?—I believe it is carried out in this way : if a policeman sees a girl loitering about, and he thinks it is for the purpose of prostituting herself, he takes her to the Prefecture of Police, and she is examined and warned, and is let go, and she is afterwards brought up three times in the same way before they register her and make a prosti- tute of her. 19.292. Subject to this limitation, that a girl under 21 is handed over to her parents ?—No ; of a younger age than that. I think it is girls under 15. I do not think they hand them back after that age. I think they put them on the register if they are 16 or 17, but I am not certain of the ago. 1 know if they are young girls of 12 or 13 they communicate with their parents immediately. 19.293. But of this you are quite satisfied, that after say 15 or 16 there must be repeated instances, you say three times ?—They must be brought up three times before the medical officer, and he examines them. 19.294. Can you tell me where the examination takes place ?—It takes place at the Prefecture of Police, close by Notre Dame. 19.295. Not at St. Lazare ?—No ; St. Lazare is an hospital whei-e they send diseased women to. When a woman is examined by the medical man, and he finds any disease upon her, he says St. Lazare ; and she goes to a room by herself, and is taken away in an omnibus. 19.296. You say you noticed such a large proportion of clandestine prostitutes who were diseased. How is it that tliose women were not on the I'ogister ?—Because they have to be brought up three times by the police before they are put (m the register. 19.297. I notice in the report of the Venereal Com- mission that there were 1,934 apparent or alleged prostitutes arrested by the ]3olice ?—Yes. 19.298. And that out of that 1,934 no less than 1,125 were restored to their friends ; would that be because they Avere not brought up more than once or tAvice ?—No ; I believe the parents or friends are communicated with before the police put them on the register of prostitutes, so as to give the friends a chance of getting them aAvay from the life they lead. 19.299. Does not that shoAv that there is a great hesitation in France, on the part of the police, as to putting the Avomen on the register?—No doubt about it, because you can see that by the number of clandes- tine prostitutes. There are supposed to be only 3,000 or 4,000 in Paris, Avhere I should suppose there are more than in any other town in the Avorld. 19.300. Then in the first instance the police require Avomen to be brought up three times, and in the case of young girls they communicate Avith their friends, and altogether they have considerable difficulties put in the Avay of placing these Avomen upon the register ? —Yes ; because Avhen once a Avoman is registered she can never get off the register again. Even if she marries she does not get oft the register. 19.301. Then the effect of that is, in your judg- ment, that a A^ery considerable number of women carrying on the trade of common prostitutes in Paris are not registered at all, and are not under the super- A'ision of the jiolice?—I should think there are at least eight or ten times the number of Avomen carrying on the trade of prostitutes, Avho are not under the supervision of the police, than there are of those who are under it. 19.302. With respect to one of your late answers, in the report I have before me of the Committee on Venereal Diseases, it is stated that about 700 or 800 Avoraen annually obtain the erasure of their names and abandon prostitution, that is hardly consistent with Avhat you have just noAV said }—No, that is not so, certainly, but I cannot speak from facts, only Avliat I believe to be the case. 19.303. Then alloAV me to put before you this, Avhich states* that the erasure is attended Avith no difficulty in the case of projected marriage, or of organic infirmities, certified by one of the surgeons of the dispensary, and also of women Avho, having re- turned to their families, live with them, and have given proof of orderly conduct. In other cases, the person applying to have her name erased from the register is subjected to a two or three months special surveillance, and if her change of conduct appears likely to be permanent she obtains the definite erasure of her name. About 700 or 800 Avomen annually obtain the erasure of their names, and abandon * App., page liv.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365945_0794.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
