BRITAIN’S FORCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22022, 3 August 1933, Page 9

BRITAIN’S FORCES

THE MEDICAL BRANCHES

CHANGES SUGGESTED

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, August 1. (Received August 2, at 6.5 p.m.) The committee on the medical branches of the defence services, set up by the Government in 1931, reports thatr* the service medical corps must be improved materially by the provision of increased opportunity for professional work and of greater economic advantages'. It proposes to reduce the total establishment and. enable all qualified officers to specialise if they so desire, at the same time increasing their opportunities to rise to higher ranks without abandoning professional for administrative work. Thus, in the army medical branch the rank of Lieut-colonel would nominally be reached at 42 instead of 48, and of colonel at 50 instead of 53. No officer would be retired before 55, the majority not till 57, and some not till 60. The emoluments between the ages of 35 and 50 Would be increased by au average of nearly £l5O a year. All officers would in the first instance be entered for a short service, normally of five years, and from these would be chosen every year numbers to be retained for life careers. Short service officers not desiring or chosen for permanent retention would be transferred to the reserves with a gratuity of £IOOO to assist in buying a private practice. A special medical scholarship would be created from public funds to be administered by the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Fund, and open to the sons of members of the forces who wish to enter the medical services. The improvement proposed would be open to future entrants.