§ Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty has the Admiralty received any Report from the consultative committee of the Royal Naval Medical Corps and when did they receive it; will he give instructions that this Report in its original form shall be laid upon the Table of the House; has the Admiralty been advised by the consultative committee that the only practical means of obtaining the additional number of medical officers of the high standard necessitated by modern requirements to makeup the shortage in the Royal Naval Medical Corps is by offering a substantial increase of pay; is this opinion endorsed by the Admiralty; has the Admiralty received any communication from the Army Council upon the subject to the effect that the Army Council would view any decision of the Admiralty to make the career in the Royal Naval Medical Corps more attractive by offering a higher scale of pay as antagonistic to the desired flow of candidates to the Royal Army Medical Corps; and, if so, does the Admiralty intend to allow the Royal Naval Medical Corps to continue to suffer both in efficiency and numbers in order to enable the Army Council to keep down the pay of members of the Royal Army Medical Corps to its present rate?
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§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe Committee on Naval Medical Service forwarded a report relating to Naval medical officers on the 2nd July, 1909. My right hon. Friend the First Lord is not at all convinced that the public interest would be served by laying this Report, which deals fully with medical organisation in time of war, and he hopes the House will not press for it. In reply to the third and fourth parts of the question, the Committee advised that the question of pay was a most important factor to be considered when endeavouring to obtain the requisite number of medical officers of the standard necessary, and framed proposals which would substantially increase the emoluments of Naval medical officers. The Admiralty endorsed this view, and obtained authority for increasing their emoluments. The revised scales of pay and allowances were published in Circular Letter of the 11th August last, a copy of which I am forwarding to the hon. Member. The Army Council agreed that a margin of superiority in rates of pay should be given to the Naval Medical Service, and the Scales of Pay promulgated in the Circular Letter quoted provided for this margin in future.