St,—Mr. Sydney Melbourne's article in your issue of September 2 0th
contained the following paragraph re the effect of London on the average Australian man:
"He finds the people careless and dirty, and venereal disease prevalent, and beyond a few notices in public conveniences he has found little attempt to combat the last evil. People ask him if it is true that there are licensed brothels in Queensland, and seem horrified to be told that such things are tolerated. Yet venereal disease is not rampant in Australia."
Has Mr. Melbourne studied this matter and done any really accurate investigation into the ratio of venereal disease in Australia as com- pared with England? Is he aware of the actual conditions in Queensland resulting from the system in that State which tolerates brothels and has registered " prostitutes " under medical examina- tion? Mr. Melbourne does not seem to have made any careful examination of the efficiency of the British scheme for dealing with venereal diseases. The British system of providing free, voluntary and confidential treatment for every person who needs it has been most efficient and successful in reducing venereal disease, and the recent expert reports show that this method is, for large populations, more effective than compulsory methods. This Association has been dealing with this subject for 7o years and was the .original source of the present Government scheme for providing free, voluntary and confidential treatment. Does Mr. Melbourne mean to suggest that tolerated brothels prevent venereal disease being " rampant in Australia "? What is it that he would like to see provided in London? Surely he must be aware that there is not a vestige of reliable evidence to show that the tolerated brothel system is of the slightest value in reducing or preventing venereal infection. It is part of my work to study the Queensland Annual Reports on Health and Medical Services, and venereal disease is certainly not decreasing in that part of the Commonwealth.
Does Mr. Melbourne realise_ that tolerated brothels are closely linked up with third-party exploitation of lust, for profit, and also with the traffic in young women? Has he read the Report (June, 1938) of the Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia, made to the Royal Commission of Inquiry concerning the City of Perth? It states:
" A case was recently reported in our Press of a young man who took two girls from Victoria to Queensland, one as and the other a little older, to place them in a house of ill-fame."
The Association for Moral and Social Hygiene,
Livingstone House, Broadway, Westminster, London, S.W. r.
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