§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether, considering the great dissatisfaction that exists amongst medical students and the Medical Profession generally at the abolition of relative rank, which dissatisfaction may seriously diminish the number of candidates for the Army Medical Service, he will advise Her Majesty to issue a Warrant conferring honorary rank on all medical officers, and place them at least in as good a position as the officers in the Commissariat, Ordnance, and Pay Departments?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)I have said many times that the abolition of relative rank has not in any way altered the position or status of medical officers; and I have no reason to suppose that these officers are desirous of being called by titles so dissociated from the duties of their honourable Profession as those of Colonel, Major, and Captain. These titles are, however, necessary in the case of other Departments, whose officers, unlike those of the Medical Department, do not belong to a recognized Profession.