§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILLasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government, without delay, to introduce a Bill to give effect to the Resolution arrived at on Friday 20th April relative to the Contagious Diseases Acts; and, whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government, pending further legislation, to continue to enforce the Law, or whether they will consider themselves entitled to exercise a dispensing power, and to issue instructions to the authorities to undertake no further prosecutions under the Act?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, in consequence of the Resolution passed by the House of Commons on April 20, in reference to the Contagious Diseases Acts, we propose, as soon as possible, to introduce a short Bill providing for the following main points:—namely, (1.) To repeal all sections of the Acts of 1866 and 1869 which direct periodical or compulsory examination of women, including all police action. (2.) That any woman voluntarily presenting herself at a certified hospital may, at her own request, be examined, and, if it be deemed necessary by the surgeon, may be admitted into such hospital and detained there in accordance with the provisions of the present Acts. (3.) That, in places under the Act where no certified hospitals exist, any woman may, at her own request, be examined by a duly appointed surgeon, and, if it be deemed necessary by the surgeon, may be admitted into a certified hospital and detained there in accordance with the provisions of the present Acts. (4.) That anything in the present Acts not inconsistent with the above should be retained. This is all the legislation which appears to be absolutely requisite in the present Session. It will not, however, exclude a consideration by the Government of the whole question, with a view either to legislation next Session on the lines of the recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1871, or of the Bill of 1872, or, possibly, to the introduction of some further provisions into a Bill which is about to be presented in the House of Lords for the amendment of the law relating to the protection of young girls. 1866 As, however, it is uncertain when the Bill the provisions of which I have indicated can be passed, it was necessary to consider what action should be taken at once. It appears that the powers conferred on the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War by the Acts are, in the main, permissive, and not obligatory. The operation of the Acts hinges on the appointment of visiting surgeons at the places subjected to the Acts, and on the employment of the Metropolitan Police. All the expenses of the administration of the Acts are to be defrayed by the Admiralty and the War Office from money to be voted by Parliament. After the vote of April 20, there exists no reasonable probability that the House of Commons will vote the fund necessary for the administration of the compulsory examination sections of the Acts. Instructions have, therefore, been given for the withdrawal of the Metropolitan Police. The visiting surgeons will be for the present retained for the purpose of providing a legal means of admitting women who desire to enter a certified hospital, who are to be subject to detention under the 17th section of the Act of 1866, which authorizes a woman voluntarily to subject herself to examination. Amended Estimates providing for the expenses of the administration of the Acts will be substituted for those now contained in the Navy and Army Estimates; and the discussion of these Estimates on the introduction of the Bill will probably give the most convenient opportunity for entering into any farther details on the subject.
§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILLasked whether it was not the fact that, in the recent debate on this subject, the noble Marquess had expressed the opinion that the present Acts were absolutely necessary for the efficiency of the Army; whether that was not also the opinion of the First Lord of the Admiralty as regarded the Navy; and, if so, whether it was now the opinion of the War Office and the Admiralty that the Regulation of which the noble Marquess had given Notice would provide for the efficiency of the Army and Navy?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONsaid, he did not think the noble Lord had correctly quoted the statement. He did not say that the Acts were absolutely necessary to the efficiency of the Army or Navy, but that he thought 1867 they had tended to increase the efficiency of the Army and Navy.
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked when the Bill for the better protection of young persons would be brought in? The removal of the police charged with the execution of the Acts would render the need for the Bill all the more urgent.
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTsaid, that the Bill was ready, and would, he hoped, be introduced immediately after Whitsuntide.
§ MR. WARTONasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether lately at Cairo, in one battalion about 560 strong, 75 men were laid up at one time in consequence of venereal disease?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, the Returns of sick at Cairo are not given by battalions; but on the 13th of April the soldiers of the force at Cairo under treatment for venereal disease amounted to 2.65 of the strength, which would only give an average of about 17 to a battalion of 650 men. By a later Return received yesterday, it appears that of the whole force in Egypt those in hospital for venereal disease were about 3½ per cent of the force.
§ MR. WARTONasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that the Military Authorities in Ireland lately made a strong application to the Government to the effect that the Contagious Diseases Acts be extended to Dublin, on the ground that a large proportion of its garrison was rendered inefficient by venereal disease?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, in December last the military authorities in Ireland represented strongly the great prevalence of venereal disease among the garrison of Dublin, and urged that the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Acts should be extended to that City. It was not considered expedient to propose legislation for such an extension; but I have arranged with the Governors of the Westmoreland Lock Hospital to offer additional accommodation to diseased women; and I hope that this measure may have some result in improving the health of the garrison.