LORD BURGHLEYsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, 1202 Why a large number of Staff Assistant-Surgeons have been placed upon half pay and bow long it is probable that the state of half-pay as regards these officers will be continued? He knew it was said that they had been placed on half-pay because the present Vote was not sufficient; but why was the present Vote not sufficient? It seemed hard that a number of officers just entering on their profession should be placed on half-pay, and their prospects of promotion in the army retarded, when they themselves were not in fault. He did not blame the War Department; he believed they were inclined to be liberal. He hoped they would take the case into consideration, and, perhaps, do something to remedy the evil.
GENERAL LINDSAYsaid, that with reference to the notice which had been given by his hon. and gallant Friend (Colonel North), be wished to call attention to the reduction of the second assistant-surgeons of regiments of the Line. He bad mentioned the other evening that this reduction had either commenced or was anticipated. The importance of the subject had been felt very deeply, for the addition of a second assistant-surgeon to regiments of the Line had been recommended by the Commander-in-Chief and nearly all the important witnesses before the Sanitary Commission on the Army. To some extent the House had been deceived by the statement made the other night by the hon. Under-Secretary of State. He was far from attributing to him any intention to mislead, but the fact was that what had been stated by him in Committee, was, so far as he could learn, the reverse of what had actually taken place. An order had gone out reducing in several instances the second assistant - surgeons of regiments serving at home. The question was not, perhaps, quite understood by the hon. Gentleman, for the reply that was wished had not been given. When an hon. Member stated that the order had gone out for the reduction, the hon. Under-Secretary said, if such an order had gone out it had not gone out from the War Department. He (General Lindsay) was extremely anxious to have the matter cleared up, and if an order had gone out without the knowledge of the authorities, that it should be reversed as soon as possible. The sanitary interests of the private soldiers made this a matter of no ordinary importance, as no officer was so useful to them or so well acquainted with their wants, and it involved in a great 1203 degree the comfort of medical officers themselves. He thought it a great hardship that a medical officer could not have leave of absence, in consequence of the great responsibility which devolved upon him, without employing another practitioner to perform his duties.
MR. T. G. BARINGsaid, he would state to the House precisely what he had intended to say and what he believed he had said the other evening. He meant to say two things; the one was that the second assistant-surgeons of the battalions of of Guards would not be taken away from them as they were included in the Estimates for 1861-62; and the other was that no second assistant-surgeons of Line regiments would be placed on half-pay. He did not intend to say that they would not be taken away from their regiments. It was considered by the noble Lord the Secretary of State and by the Commander-in-Chief that the second assistant-surgeons in regiments at home were no longer necessary. As the gallant officer had mentioned the Report of the Sanitary Commission, and the opinions of those supposed to be most conversant with the wants of the soldier in regard to medical treatment, he must say that no one, in whatever position, had paid more attention to that subject than Lord Herbert; and no one was better qualified to decide how those wants could best be attended to. His opinion was that second assistant-surgeons should no longer he attached to regiments at home. The House itself was able to judge whether three medical officers were required to attend 800 men between the ages of eighteen and thirty, and whose complaints were mostly of a character which, though rendering them for a time unfit for service, did not require very serious treatment. Lord Herbert, therefore, held the opinion, in which his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief concurred, that second assistant-surgeons for regiments at home were no longer required; and in the Estimates for this year only one assistant-surgeon was taken for regiments at home. It was to be regretted that it should be necessary to place any medical officers upon half-pay; but the Chinese war having ceased the services of a certain number of them could be dispensed with. In effecting reductions the rule was to deal with the junior officers, and twenty-nine assistant-surgeons had been placed on half-pay, none of whom were the second assistant-surgeons of regiments, all 1204 of them being on the Staff. He hoped it would not be requisite to keep them on half-pay for any great length of time, it being intended to give them active employment as vacancies occurred. The change had been made entirely with a view to the efficiency of the medical service. He (Mr. Baring) did not mean to imply by what he said upon a previous occasion that those assistant-surgeons were idling away their time from any fault of their own, but that with three medical officers for one battalion there was not a proper opportunity for them all to improve themselves in their profession.