§ MR. H. J. WILSON (Yorkshire, W.R., Holmfirth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that girls of twelve and fourteen years of age have undergone examination several times in Cape Town under the Contagious Diseases Acts; whether he can state under what Acts of the Cape Legislature such examinations can be enforced in regard to girls of these ages; whether a magistrate suggested that criminal prosecutions should be instituted against persons who would pass such children; and under what Act, if any, such criminal prosecutions could be instituted.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINThe hon. Member has called my attention to a report in a Cape newspaper of a case in which two girls of the ages of twelve and fourteen were charged with soliciting, and it was stated that they had been several times examined at the Lock Hospital. The magistrate is reported to have made the remark quoted in the question. The Contagious Diseases Prevention Act of the Cape Colony (No. 39 of 1885) does not specify any limit of age for persons to be examined. I do not know whether any such prosecution as the magistrate suggested could be instituted.