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this Act against or by a woman shall not, unless the woman so desires, be deemed an open court for that purpose; and, unless the woman otherwise desires, the justice may, in his discretion, order that no person have access to or be or remain in that room without his consent or permission.

THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT, 1869.
(32 & 33 Vict. c. 96.)

Temporary Detention of Women.

Section 3.-Any woman who, on attending for examination or being examined by the visiting surgeon, is found by him to be in such a condition that he cannot properly examine her, shall, if such surgeon has reasonable grounds for believing that she is affected with a contagious disease, be liable to be detained in a certified hospital, subject and according to the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 1869, until the visiting surgeon can properly examine her, so that she be not so detained for a period exceeding five days. The visiting surgeon shall sign a certificate to the effect that she was in such a condition that he could not properly examine her, and that he has reasonable grounds to believe that she is affected with a contagious disease, and shall name therein the certified hospital in which she is to be placed; and such certificate shall be signed and otherwise dealt with in the same manner, and have the same effect, except as regards duration, as a certificate under the principal Act.

If the reason that the visiting surgeon cannot examine the woman is that she is drunk, she may be detained upon an order of the visiting surgeon for a period not exceeding twenty-four hours in any place named in the order where persons accused of being drunk and disorderly or of offences punishable summarily are usually detained, and the gaoler or the keeper of such place shall upon the receipt of such order receive and detain the woman accordingly.

Notice by Justice to Woman being a Common Prostitute. Section 4.-Where an information on oath is laid before a justice by a superintendent of police, charging to the effect.

that the informant has good cause to believe that a woman therein named is a common prostitute, and either is resident within the limits of any place to which this Act applies or, being resident within ten miles of those limits, or having no settled place of abode, has, within fourteen days before the laying of the information, either been within those limits for the purpose of prostitution, or been outside of those limits for the purposes of prostitution in the company of men resident within those limits, the justice may, if he thinks fit, issue a notice thereof addressed to such woman, which notice the superintendent of police shall cause to be served on her:

Provided that nothing in the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 1869, shall extend, in the case of Woolwich, to any woman who is not resident within the limits specified in the first schedule to this Act.

Section 15 of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and the foregoing enactment in this section is substituted for it; provided that all proceedings taken and acts done under the section hereby repealed shall, notwithstanding, remain of full effect, and shall, if necessary, be continued as if they had been taken and done under this section.

Duration of Order.

Section 5.-Any order for subjecting a woman to periodical medical examination shall be in operation and enforceable as long as and whenever such woman is resident within ten miles of the limits of the place where the order was made, instead of within five miles, as prescribed by Section 32 of the principal Act.

Effect of Voluntary Submission by Women.

Section 6.—Where any woman, in pursuance of the principal Act, voluntarily subjects herself by submission in writing to a periodical medical examination under that Act, such submission shall, for all the purposes of the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 1869, have the same effect as an order of a justice subjecting the woman to examination; and all the provisions of the principal Act respecting the attend

ance of the woman for examination, and her absenting herself to avoid examination, and her refusing or wilfully neglecting to submit herself for examination, and the force of the order subjecting her to examination after imprisonment for such absence, refusal, or neglect, shall apply and be construed accordingly.

Duration of Detention.

Section 7.-A woman may be detained for a further period not exceeding three months, in addition to the six months allowed under Section 24 of the principal Act, if such certificate as is required by that section (to the effect that her further detention for medical treatment is requisite) is given at the expiration of such six months; so, nevertheless, that any woman be not detained under one certificate for a longer time in the whole than nine months.

Custody of Orders of Discharge.

Section 8.-Where an order is made discharging a woman from any hospital, or where a certificate is given, under Section 30 of the principal Act, that a woman is free from a contagious disease, such order and certificate shall be delivered to the superintendent of police, and retained by him.

Application to Surgeon for Relief from Examination.

Section 9.-Any woman subjected, either on her own submission or under the order of a justice, to a periodical medical examination under the principal Act, who desires to be relieved therefrom, and is not under detention in a certified hospital, may make application in writing in that behalf to the visiting surgeon.

The visiting surgeon shall cause a copy of such application to be delivered to the superintendent of police, and if, after a report from such superintendent, he is satisfied by such report or other evidence that the applicant has ceased to be a common prostitute, may, by order under his hand, direct that she be relieved, and she shall thereupon be relieved, from periodical medical examination.

Such order shall be in triplicate; one copy shall be delivered to the woman, and two copies shall be delivered to the superintendent of police, who shall communicate one copy to the justice (if any) who made the order subjecting the woman to a periodical medical examination, or to his successor in office.

The provisions of this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for the provisions of the principal Act for relieving a woman from examination.

SECTION V.

POVERTY.

Poverty is a very complex social problem, and a fruitful source of disease. It is commonly associated with ignorance of sanitary laws, and not unfrequently with personal habits which directly tend to injure health, whilst it implies deficiency of food, clothing, and warmth, with an almost entire absence of the comforts of life. Although public provision is made to avert starvation and to supply medical aid, none can doubt that the very poor suffer, not only from want of the necessaries of life, but from defective remedial aids in case of sickness. It may also be admitted that they occupy and overcrowd the worst class of houses, and the least salubrious localities.

The extent of this evil varies much in different localities with the season of the year and the general prosperity of the nation, but few are without it at all times, and probably all have it sometimes. Hence the degree in which it will cause disease varies much, but as such people are always upon the verge of it, the medical officer of health should devote his unremitting attention to them. A low state of the general health, with debility and indigestion,

and exposure leading to confirmed rheumatism are constant, whilst fevers occur yearly, and contagious diseases of all kinds are apt to spread among them.

Until deep poverty disappears or is extremely rare, we cannot hope for the extinction of fevers, nor limit their spread, and hence the whole community has an interest in diminishing this great calamity.

Whilst no member of such a household can be free from an unusual liability to disease, the evils fall chiefly upon the children and the women, bringing both disease and increased mortality. Even in agricultural districts, where the labourers' wages were 8s. a week a short time ago, the self-denial of the wife enabled the husband, as the bread-winner, to obtain some degree of sufficiency of food; but what must have been the want of herself and children under those circumstances? Hence the sanitary authorities should be ever on the watch as to the state of health of those members of a family who must suffer most.

SECTION VI.

CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCES.*

The influence of locality in the production of disease is notorious, since the death-rate varies in different places. The problem is, however, a very complex one, and cannot as yet be solved in each of its parts: but one of the conditions, viz. density of population, has been investigated by Dr. Gairdner with very startling results in reference to England. Thus he shows by the following table that the

*See also "Meteorological Influences," page 165.

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