SILPT. 7', I9I2.] APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE COLONIAL OFFICE. DIc.

Leave RBiles. The numuber of vacancies is not large and the rate of (Tlle paragraplhs in small type apply only to officers in promotion is at present very slow. military employ.) In the case of those required to give their whole time to Officers below the rank of colonel miiay be granted: the service tlle appointmiient in the first instance is to the 1. Privilege leave ulnder such regulations as may from time to post of deputy medical officer, and from the seniors of time be in force. this ranik the miiedical officers are selected as vacancies 2. Leave out of Inldia, for no longer period thani one year, occur. The deputy medical officers are paid £250 yearly, capable of extensioil to two years' absence fromdluty, on rising to £300, witlh unfurnished quarters. The whole-tinie the following pay: medical officers are paid £300, rising to £550, with unfur- On first appointment ...... £250 a year. quarters. After the commencement of the 10th year's nislhed Tllere are fifteen deputy medical officers service for pension ...... 300 and fifteen whole-time and foirty-six part-time mnedical Ditto, ditto, 15th ditto ...... 450 officers. Ditto, ditto, 20th ditto ...... 600 Ditto, ditto, 25th ditto ...... 700 3. Leave in , but for the period of one year only, on full APPOINTMI1ENTS UTNDER THE COLONIAL military pay, and half the staff salary of appointment. No extension of leave involving absence from duty for more OFFICE. than two years, whether taken in or out of India, can be granted, except on specially urgent grounds and without MEDICAL appointmiients are from timiie to time filled up by pay. the Colonial Office in the following Colonies and Pro- An officer unable on accounit of the state of hiis lhealth to tectorates: Britislh Guiania, Jamaica, Trinidad, Windward return to duty within the maximum period of two years' Islands, Leeward Islands, Barbados, Britislh absence (unless, as under the foregoilng paragraph, he is Honduras, specially granted an extenision of leave wvithout pav) is placed the Balhamiias, , Fiji, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Gol(l on temporary half-pay or the retired list, as the circumstances Coast, Nortlhern and Southlern Nigeria, East Africa an(d of the case may require. An officer is also liable to be placed Uganda , , Somaliland, Ceylon, oln half-pay or the retired list should hiis healthlrequire an undue , tlle Federated Malay States, Hong amount of leave, whether in or out of India. Kong, Wei - liai - Wei, MIauritius, , Leave mav- be granted at any time, but solely at the discretion , of the civii or military authorities in India under whom an , St. Helenia, and the . Ill officer may be serving. Ceylon, Jamaica, and vacancies are almost aiways filled locally by the appointmnent of qualified native Extra furlough may be granted to officers desirous candidates. As a rule officers are required on appointmnenlt of pursuing special courses of study at the rate of one to unidergo a three molntlhs' coU.rse of instruction at the month's furlough, for each year's service up to twelve London or Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and to months in all. obtain a certificate of proficiency before taking up their 1Retirinq Pensionis and Half-Pay. appointment. In addition to the ordinary medical appoint- Officers are allowed to retire on pension on completing, ments, vacancies also occasionally, tlhouglh very rarely, 17 years' service, the amnount they receive varying witlh the ocCUr, for whlich specialists are required-for example, precise number of years tlley lhave served. Tlhe lowest to take cllarge of a lunatic asylum. rate for 17 years' service is £300 per aninumu, and the rate All canididates for ordiniary medical appointments for 30 years £700 per annum. The increases in pension m111ust be betweeln the ages of 23 and 35.' Preference is for each additional year's service over 17 are somewhat given to those who lhave leld juniior appointments on the higher in the last 5 thaan in the first 8 of the 13 years staffs of hospitals. Testimonials to clharacter and pro- between the shortest and longest periods of pensionable fessional competence are required, and every officer before service. Service for pension reckons from date of first being appoinited must be mnedically examined by one of the commission, and includes all leave taken under the rules consulting physicians of the Colonial Office. A pamphlet quoted. givinig a good deal of iniformuation as to the various posts is Additionial pensions for wounids and injturies received in published. Copies can be obtained on application by letter action or in the performuance of m-lilitary duty are awarded to tlle Assistant Private Secretary, the Colonial Office, to officers of the Indian Medical Service on the same terms Downling Street, S.W. as to combatant officers of the Indian Army. Tlle nominal value of the appointmients in the gift of the All officers of the rank of lieutenant-colonel and major Colonial Office varies very con-siderably; but, as a general are placed on tlle retired list oni attaining the age of 55 rule, it will be fouind on close examination that the rates of years; the greatest age to wlicih any officer can serve pay correspond in real value pretty closely when questions being 62. of climate, opportunities for private practice, the cost of Family Pentsionzs. living, and the actual work demanded are taken into The claims to pensions of widows and families of officers considerationi. The posts to which the lower salaries are are treated under the provisions of such Royal Warranit attaclhed commiiiionly involve -work which can be regarded regulating the grant of penisions to the widows and as merely an adjuinct to ordiinary private practice, while families of Britislh officers as may be in force at tlle time highl pay means eitlier few opportunities for practice, an being. The widows and famiilies of officers are also undesirable climate, or work of a special character demand- entitled to pensions under tlle Indian Service Family inig hliglh adminiistrative ability. Taken as a whole, all Pension Regulations, for the benefits of which all officers these appointments m-ay be put down as offering their must, as a condition of their appointment, subscribe from occupant the opportuinity of gainiing his livelihood, and the date of their arrival in India, except in the case of possibly saviing a little mioney, in a fashion which will test natives of India, for whom it is optional. his abilities to the fuLll. In some respects the most important appointments are those to iiiemiiberslhip of the West African Medical Staff. This is a regular service somewhat on the lines of the PRISON MEDICAL SERVICE. Indian Medical Service; the rates of pay in the higher THE prison departm-lent colnsists of two branelies -the grade are fairly satisfactory as compared with the cost of convict service and the local prisoni service. Tllese are living on tlle coast; the opportunities for scientific prac- now practically amalgamated, and the officers of each tice of medicine are ample, and at the end of every year's branch are freely interchangeable. Candidates for the work an officer can return to England for several months' mnedical staff are approved by the Secretary of State for leave. A separate pamphlet se'tting forth the emoluments the Home Office on the recoimmiiendation of the Prison and general conditions of service is puiblislhed, and can be Commissioners. The Chairmiian of tlle Board is Sir Evelyn obtained in the same faslhion as that already mentioned. Ruggles-Brise, I{.C.B. Application for employrnent may Besides these appointmelnts under the various Colonial be made to the Board on a special form, which can be governments, a large numliiober of men are employed in the obtained from the Secretary, Prison Comimiission, Home Colonies and Protectorates as medical officers of mining Office, London, S.W. and other companies carryinig on their operations in various In the smaller prisons the medical officer is usually a parts of the tropics. Much care should be exercised in local practitioner, but in the larger the mnembers of the are to their whole time to thle 1 In the case of East and West Africa preference will be given to medical staff required give canididates who are over 25 years of age. In the case of Fiji, preference service. will be given to candidates who are under 30.