VISCOUNT LIFFORD, in asking Her Majesty's Government, Whether their 337 attention had been directed. to the moral condition of naval stations, especially Portsmouth, since the practical repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, said, that he considered it would have been a great calamity if those Acts had been suspended for a day; but it was much worse to prevent their operation altogether; and it was a marvellous thing that that should have been done by the Government without any appeal to Parliament—done at the mere bidding of one man and by one-third of the House of Commons, and against the views of their Lordships' House and the opinion of every Committee and Commission that had considered the question. There had been au outcry against the course pursued by the Government from every protected place or district; and he trusted that the Government would look seriously into the matter, and see what could be done to restore that feeling of security which previously existed.
§ VISCOUNT CRANBROOKsaid, he thought it was the duty of everyone who had had anything to do with the administration of those Acts to raise his voice against the course which had been taken by the Government. At the War Office ho entered on the examination of this question with great anxiety, and with an instinctive feeling against the regulations; but he came to the conclusion that, whether looked at in their moral or physical aspects, these Acts were advantageous. They conduced to the better conduct of women and to their reformation. He contended that the course which had been pursued by those who had opposed these Acts was most inconsistent and unreasonable; and he hoped that there was more force in the Government than could be overcome by the sentimental objection of those persons, and that they would not be led by the few objectors in the other House. The Town Councils and principal inhabitants of the towns affected, including the clergy, had petitioned against the repeal of the Acts. At Cork a Roman Catholic priest expressed himself strongly in favour of the Acts, and had by means of them been able to restore many unfortunate girls to their families; and this, as was well known, had been the case at Chatham.
§ VISCOUNT HARDINGEsaid, he had had the honour of serving on the Royal Commission on this subject, and he 338 quite agreed with the two noble Viscounts' observations, and that unfortunate consequences would follow from the repeal of those Acts. The efficiency of the Acts depended entirely on the periodical examination. The Government had now suspended that, and nothing but a considerable increase of contagion could be the result. The medical evidence on this head was overwhelming. The Metropolitan Police, to whose discretion and efficiency the success of the Acts were mainly indebted, had been generally withdrawn. The moral effects of the Acts, the efforts made in the hospitals to reclaim these unfortunate women, and the control exercised over them, would now be at an end, and much of the good already attained would be nullified. Their Lordships were about to legislate for the protection of young girls; and it would be found that the Metropolitan Police had done more in clearing the streets and restoring young girls to their parents who were on the verge of prostitution than, in all probability, legislative enactments would be able to bring about. He wished to ask the noble Earl the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the whole of the Metropolitan Police had been withdrawn from the places that were protected? If they had been, what police had taken, or were to take, their places; and how far the county and borough police authorities had power to carry out what remained of these Acts?
§ THE DUKE OF SOMERSETsaid, he wished to impress upon the Government the necessity of considering the question further. In 1864 there was an Act for voluntary examinations, but it did not succeed. Then in 1866 all persons of the class referred to were brought under compulsion, and the Act did succeed most effectively. The moral question was a very much more important one to the whole country; and, according to all evidence from the towns where these Acts were in force, they had prevented the young girls from entering into a course of vice and prostitution. These Acts should be maintained, as they were great sanitary measures, and they ought not to be withdrawn without an Act of Parliament; but they had been, because some Members of the Government seemed to wish to gain a little popularity. He intreated the Government to bring forward their Bill, and let the 339 House and the country see what they proposed to do.
§ THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGEsaid, it was quite evident that great mischief would arise to the Services if these Acts were not kept in operation. If it were merely a question which affected the Army and Navy he might not consider it right to press the matter so much; but it was a question which affected the whole morals of the country, and instead of the Acts being repealed they should be extended far more than they had been. Where the Acts had been applied they had not been objected to—on the contrary, there was a decided wish on the part of the local authorities to retain them in force. These who agitated for their repeal were persons living at a distance. In the towns in which the Acts were in operation there were 250 fewer houses of ill-fame since the introduction of the Acts than there had been before.
§ LORD STRATHNAIRNagreed that the Acts had been of the greatest value to the towns which had come under their operation. He considered that the opponents of the Acts were patrons of immorality.
§ THE EARL OF WEMYSSwould suggest that, as the Government were so fond of Local Option in the matter of drink, that principle should be acted upon in the present case, and garrison towns given their own wish in the matter.
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKsaid, he was afraid that this was one of the questions which occasionally arose upon which the feeling entertained in their Lordships' House was not altogether in accordance with that expressed in the other House of Legislature. There was no change whatever in the action of the Government with regard to the position of persons under treatment in hospitals. They were still liable to penalties if they left without a medical certificate. With respect to the value or otherwise of these Acts, he could only repeat that he was in favour of them. He believed that they had done some good in regard to the health of the Army and the Navy; though, from a statistical point of view, the result in regard to the Navy was by no means so great as some people supposed. That was accounted for by the fact that sailors were less stationary than soldiers. He was satisfied also that the 340 Acts were popular, for the most part, in the places where they were in operation. Besides, whatever benefit had been done to the health of the Services, undoubtedly the indirect effect of the Acts had been a considerable improvement in the condition of the streets in those towns; and it was greatly to the credit of the Metropolitan Police, who had been engaged in administering them, that young girls had been kept off the streets, and many women brought back from their vicious course of life to respectable occupations in society. But the Government had to deal with a practical question—namely, that the other House of Parliament, after a long debate, had by a majority of between 60 and 70 decided against compulsory examination. Now, seeing that the money required under the Act had to be voted by the House of Commons, the Government considered that it would be idle to continue compulsory examination in the face of so deliberate a vote. It was thought, under these circumstances, that the only practical course was to withdraw the Metropolitan Police from the compulsory part of the examination. With regard to the arguments as to the general effect of these diseases on posterity, they led very much further than the Acts themselves, because it must be recollected how few places in the country the Acts touched. Although, personally, he regretted the vote of the House of Commons, ho must add that, in his opinion, it was impracticable to extend the system over the whole country, for which alone any general benefit to health would be derived.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYsaid, that when the noble Earl spoke with regret of the action of the House of Commons in regard to these Acts, it was necessary to bear in mind that 19 Members of the Government voted or paired in favour of the Resolution, including the Prime Minister, which the noble Earl, on behalf of the Government, deplored. But what he rose to point out was that this question had two aspects. It had one of a social, a sanitary, and an administrative character, in respect to which much had been said in which he entirely concurred. The evils which had been brought back to these towns were of the very gravest character. But there was another aspect of the question with respect to which he wanted in- 341 formation. He wished to know precisely how far the Government had, on their own authority and without the consent of Parliament, suspended the operation of an Act of Parliament? If it were only the case that they had simply abstained from that action which absolutely required the vote of money by Parliament to sustain, and if they had not gone an inch beyond that abstinence, of course he did not blame them from the Constitutional point of view, for they could not expend money which they had not got. But, as he understood, they had suspended compulsory examination. They had not merely ceased to pay special officers for doing it, but they had given orders that that which the Act prescribed should no longer be done, or, at all events, they had given orders that that which the Acts empowered them to do should no longer be done; and they had done that, not at any bidding of Parliament, but simply by a snatch vote, obtained at a single Sitting of the House of Commons. It was not merely a question as between the two Houses; but a decision on a grave question of public policy had been taken without any of those safeguards of repeated deliberation which, in regard to every Act of Parliament, wore in both Houses required. He wanted to ask the noble Earl whether he would lay on the Table all Letters and Orders given with reference to this subject since the vote of the House of Commons to which he had referred?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKsaid, he did not think there would be any objection to produce the Letters which the noble Marquess asked for; but he would make inquiries before giving a final answer.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYrequested an answer to the question whether the Government had merely left off paying money, or had forbidden the proceedings directed by the Act from being carried out?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKsaid, that certainly the intention had been simply to withdraw the Metropolitan Police, who were paid out of the Vote, from taking part in the compulsory operation of the Acts. They had no power to prevent the operation of the Acts apart from that. That was their intention; but they issued certain instructions to the Visiting Surgeons, and these 342 were comprised in the Papers which the noble Marquess would like to see, and he did not think there would be any objection to produce them.
In reply to Viscount BARRINGTON,
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKsaid, that the Government had no power to interfere with the local authorities in respect of any powers which they enjoyed under the Acts.