, April 19th--"Dr. Murray stated
in an _Official Report not intended for publication_, but found
by the Commission among other Government papers, and
published,--'That venereal disease has been _on the increase_,
in spite of all that has been done to check it, _is no new
discovery_; it has already been brought before the notice of His
Excellency.'" (Report, p. 35, pars. 4 and 5.)

What is to be thought of the character of such reports for the
_Public_, and such an _Official Report_, "not _intended_ to be
_published_"?

This same Dr. Murray's Annual Report for the _Public_ for
1867, was _actually put in evidence before the House of Lords'
Committee_ on venereal diseases--1868, page 135. "Venereal disease
here has now become of _comparatively rare occurrence_." Yet the
_Army_ Report for the previous year (1866, page 115) states that
"the admissions to hospital for venereal disease were 281 per 1000
men;" i.e., more than one man in four of the whole soldiery had
been in hospital for this "comparatively rare" disease.

As regards the Navy, Dr. Murray says, "the evidence of Dr.
Bernard, the Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, is
even more satisfactory. He writes (Jan. 27), 'I am enabled to say
that true syphilis is now rarely contracted by our men in Hong
Kong.'" Yet the "China station," in which Hong Kong occupies so
important a position, had at the time 25 per cent. more _secondary
(true) syphilis than any other naval station in the world, except
one (the S.E. American_); it had 101 of _primary (true) against
68 in the North American_, 31 in the S.E. American, and 22 in the
Australian stations (_all unprotected_); and _gonorrhoea_ was
_higher than in any other naval station in the world_. This
_official_ misleading feature is to be found in other quarters
than Dr. Murray's Reports; for in the _Navy_ Report for 1873
(p. 282), Staff Surgeon Bennett, medical officer of the ship
permanently stationed in Hong Kong, says--"Owing to the excellent
working of the Contagious Diseases Acts, venereal complaints in
the colony are reduced _to a minimum_. The _few cases_ of syphilis
are chiefly due to private prostitutes not known to the police."

In a representation made to the Secretary of State by W.H. Sloggett,
Inspector of Certified Hospitals, October 7, 1879, we get an exact