HC Deb 21 March 1867 vol 186 cc282-3
SIR GEORGE STUCLEY

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, What is the name and date of the appointment of the Civilian Member of the Army Sanitary Committee referred to in Vote 17, Army Estimates; why, with his travelling expenses he is to receive £1,200 per annum; and, why a Medical Officer of the Army cannot perform the duties required from such Civilian Practitioner?

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

replied, that the name of the civilian member of the Army Sanitary Committee was Dr. Sutherland—a name well-known as that of a very eminent man. He was first appointed to serve under the War Department in 1855 by Lord Panmure, who sent him out to make inquiry into the sanitary condition of our soldiers in the Crimea. In 1857 he was again appointed by the same noble Lord a member of the Commission to inquire into the sanitary state of the army, and his appointment to the discharge of the particular duties which he now performed was made by Sir George Cornewall Lewis in 1862. In answer to the second Question, he must observe that his hon. Friend seemed to labour under a mistake at; which he could not wonder, because of the somewhat careless mode in which such entries were made in the Estimates. The salary which Dr. Sutherland received for the duties which he now performed was £1,000 a year, but he was a member of a Committee of which the other members wore unpaid, but to whom an allowance of £200 a year was given for travelling expenses. The charge, therefore, was one which was not peculiar to Dr. Sutherland. In reply to the last Question, he would simply observe that there might, no doubt, be many medical officers in the army who were quite competent to discharge the duties in question; but Dr. Sutherland was a man of the highest possible reputation, and in doubted whether there was in Eng- land a higher authority on sanitary subjects, with which he had years ago been appointed to deal because of his very great eminence, and he thought his hon. Friend would be most unwilling to deprive that gentleman of his position.