§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the provisions of section 71 of the Army Act, he will explain the appointment of Surgeon-General W. Taylor as P.M.O. Her Majesty's Forces, India, this officer being junior in rank to the Director-General Indian Medical Service at Headquarters, Simla, and also to the Surgeon-General P.M.O. of the Madras Command, whose hospitals and districts the P.M.O. Her Majesty's Forces can inspect as a superior and senior officer; and whether, in order to prevent the weakening of discipline which this might lead to, it is proposed to confer a step of local rank on Surgeon-General Taylor?
MR. POWELL WILLIAMSSection 71 of the Army Act does not apply to officers on the Staff, who exercise authority, not in virtue of their own rank, but of that of the officer on whose staff they are. Surgeon-General Taylor is on the Staff of the Commander-in Chief in India, and in that position exercises authority over all medical officers in military employment in India, irrespective of their individual rank.