FREE PASSAGES TO BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25427, 25 February 1948, Page 6

FREE PASSAGES TO BRITAIN

OFFER TO DOCTORS AND DENTISTS

SERVICE IN ARMED FORCES

Free passages to Britain, free university fees and books, and cost of living grants are among the inducements offered to surgeons, physicians, and dental surgeons to enlist as medical and dental officers in the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps, the Royal New Zealand Army Dental Corps, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. These bursaries will be granted to officers after three years’ service on the active list.

The period of service is three years, but officers will be 'eligible to apply for further engagement. Their rank on appointment will be based on the number of years they have been qualified. A doctor who has been qualified two years will be appointed as a surgeon lieutenant, captain or flight lieutenant, and a dentist with the same qualifications will be appointed as a captain. The gross salary for these ranks is £582 a year with free rations and quarters for single men, and £7OO a year for married men. A ’ gratuity of £5O a year will be paid for each complete year of service and provision will be made for medical officers to have a period of full-time clinical experience in metropolitan hospitals each year. After three years’ service medical officers will be granted a free passage to Britain with their wives and families if married. They will also receive free university fees and books, and a cost of living grant of £375 free of tax. This amount will be increased to £625 for married men. Dental officers will be granted £l5O free of tax for university fees and books for 12 months’ post-graduate study in Dunedin. Their cost of living grant will be £LOO tax free and £5OO if they are married. If a dental officer does not wish to take the post-gradu-ate course he will be paid £3OO free of tax whether married or single.