§ 30. Mr. GINNELLasked the Undersecretary of State for War whether it is 1302 a general rule in the nursing service that all nurses must join in Protestant prayers; whether Irish Catholic girls on entering for training are informed that such is the case; if there be no such rule and no authority for tampering with the religion of individuals, by what authority did a new superintendent of nurses recently in Harton Hospital, South Shields, command Catholic girls to attend Protestant prayers on pain of being reported for insubordination; and whether it will be made clear, there and in all military hospitals, that the religion of individuals must not be tampered with, and that record and promotion must in no way be affected by it?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for War (Mr. Macpherson)There is no rule of the kind suggested in military hospitals and every effort is made to enable Catholic nurses to perform their religious duties. The Harton Hospital, South Shields, is not a military hospital.
§ Mr. GINNELLIs it under the control of the War Office?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI believe not.