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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
46
22 December, 1919.]
COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICES COMMITTEE.
Mr. CECIL CLEMENTI, C.M.G.
1516. Does that carry pension ?-No; it was to be a duty allowance, non-pensionable, and not to be drawn on leave.
1617. Mr. Fiddian: Is the Leper Asylum not in- spected by the heads of the Medical Department ?-- Yes, it is.
1518. You have got a Bacteriological Labora. tory-Yes, we have.
1519. Chairman: The buildings in British Guiana are largely wood ?-Yes.
1520. Georgetown Hospital is built entirely of wood P-Yes, of wood.
1521. That is interesting, because of all the general talk now about wooden buildings?—Yes,
[Continued.
1522. Sir James Fowler: On the question of a Director-General, do you not think that any Officer holding such a position here, who interfered in any way with the authority of the Governor of the Colony, or of the head of the Medical Department, would be likely to cause great friction?--Yes, there would pro- bably be friction.
1523. Therefore, the appointment of such an Officer would be very undesirable?-1 do not consider it desirable.
1524. If he had those powers and duties?—I think it would certainly lead to friction in Demerara with the Combined Court.
1525. And probably so in any other Colony?—Yes, it might.
Chairman: We are much obliged to you.
(The Witness withdrew.)
MR. A. C. C. PARKINSON (East African Department, Colonial Office), called in and examined.
1526, Chairman: You are on the staff of the Colonial Office?-In the East African Department.
1527. We have had evidence that there is some dis- content in the East African Medical Service, and we wanted you to give evidence. I think something has been done to improve the Service there?—Something has been done, and more will be done.
1628. Can you describe to us what is being done?-- The position is, that from the 1st April last, the beginning of the financial year, there has been an increase in the salaries of the Medical Department, although there has been no increase in the salaries of the other Departments, that is to say, the Medical Officers were given priority, and although they alone have bad their salaries increased they still retain the same war bonus as other officials who have had no increase of salary.
1529. Can you say what that increase was; was it a fixed percentage?—No; it was simply an improve- ment in the scales of salary. You cannot say that everyone got so much extra.
1530. Can you say how the scale has been altered?- I can give you the existing scales; that will be the best thing, I think.
1531. Explain what it was before the 1st April last, and then since the 1st April?-The new scale now is as follows: A Medical Officer starts at £400 and rises by £20 to £500, with £40 duty allowance. 1592. And war bonus?-And war bonus, yes. 1533. What does that amount to?—Married, £105; unmarried, £55; a year. Then the next grade is £525 rising by £25 to £600, plus £50 duty allowance. 1534. And war bonus?—And war bonus throughout. 1535. The same war bonus P-The war bonus will be slightly less for the senior grade. It will be £100 married and £50 unmarried. It decreases as the salary increases. Then there are Senior Medical Officers at £600 rising by £25 to £750, plus £70 daty allowance, and war bonus, which, in that case, would he £95 married and £45 unmarried. Above that, there is the Deputy Principal Medical Officer and Senior Sanitary Officer both drawing £750 rising by £25 to £850, with £75 duty allowance, and war bonus, £90 married, £40 unmarried. The Principal Medical Officer £850, rising by £50 to £1,000, plus £85 duty allowance, and war bonus, £90 married £40 un- married. It is proposed to increase those scales yet further, if Treasury concurrence can be obtained, from the 1st April next. There was a local Commis- sion appointed by the Governor of the East Africa Protectorate and a similar Commission in Uganda. Their proposals have been sent to the Colonial Office together with the Governors' comments.
1536. Does the scheme you have just given us apply to British East Africa and other places in East Africa? -Yes, to all the Protectorates.
1537. To all the East African Protectorates?--You,
so far as regards the salaries of the Medical Officers,
the Senior Medical Officers, and the Senior Sanitary Officers. The salary of the Principal Medical Officers and Deputy Principal Medical Officers varies in the different Protectorates, but in what you may call the ordinary appointments the salaries are the same throthgout East Africa, that is to say, in the East Africa, Uganda, Nyassaland, Zanzibar, and Bomali- land Protectorates and German East Africa.
1598. What have these Commissions suggested ?— They have made recommendations, but they have not yet been examined in detail. They provide for un increase over the present scales, which are higher than those in existence before the beginning of this financial year. All that will have to be settled with the revision of salaries, not only of doctors, but of Government officials generally, and we hope to intro- duce the revised salaries from the 1st April next.
1539. You have said that you hope to obtain the assent of the Treasury to this? The Treasury is cun- cerned with Uganda and Nyassaland and Somaliland and German East Africa. These Protectorates still have grants-in-aid, or, if they have not actually had a grant-in-aid lately, their finances have never been freed from Treasury control.
1540. They owe money to the Government?—I will not say they owe money; but it is not safe to say they will not want further grants-in-aid, and it is certain that next year they will all need grants-in-aid. The only self-supporting Protectorates are the East Africa Protectorates and Zanzibar; the rest are dependent upon Imperial funds to a certain extent.
1541. The details of the new scheme, you say, have not been examined in detail by the Colonial Office?— Xo. Not yet.
1542. Therefore, it is not much good your giving the figures? I do not think so. I can give you the Commission's figures, if you wish.
1543. I do not think it is much good. Have you any objection to stating what the proposed initial salary is on new appointments? The East Africa Pro- tectorate Commission recommended the scale now approved, namely, £400 to £500 for new appoint- wients.
1544. That is the initial salary?—Yes.
1545. Sir James Fowler: Why does the war bonus decrease as the salary increases?-The idea was that it is the man with the lowest salary who is the hardest hit by the increase in prices.
1648. Sir James Fowler: From the point of view of an officer in the Administration, do you see any difficulty in uniting the East African Protectorates in the same way as the West African Colonies are connected? For making one Medical Staff? No, I do not see why they should not be joined together as an East African group, provided that each Governor remains responsible for medical and sanitary matters in his own Protectorate.
80.
1547. Just as they are in West Africa?—I suppose
22 December, 1919.]
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.
Mr. A. C. C. PARKINSON.
1548. Going on further, do you see any difficulty in amalgamating the Medical Services in East and West Africa, assuming that the East African Services had already been united, sa the West is?-And make a tropical African group in that case ?
1549. Yen? I do not see that you could get any advantage out of it, from the practical point of view.
1550. I was going to ask you that; but do you see any difficulty?-From the practical point of view, I think there would be difficulty in combining the two services. For instance, I do not quite see how it could be worked from this end.
1551. Chairman: You mean that you have separate African departments? Yes, there are separate East and West African departments in the Colonial Office. It is not like the Colonial Audit, for which you have one general service. For that branch of the service, there is the Colonial Audit Department, which acts as a headquarters central organisation.
1552. Sir James Fowler: I can see the advantage of a united East African service, and I was trying to get from you whether you could see any advantage in going a step further and making a single African Bervice?-1 do not see how there would be any advan. tage gained by combining the West and East African groups. If there were an East African group. I assume that men would be promoted to any Pro Lectorate within the group, in the usual course of events, ne vacancies occur; but that, when it comes to the senior appointments, these would be dealt with in the same way as they are now; that is to say, it would be open to the Secretary of State to appoint anyone as Principal Medical Officer from any part of the Colonial Service.
1553. Mr. Fiddian: Only in the East African groupP-At present the Secretary of State can trans- fer Medical Officers to senior appointments in East Africa, and I did not contemplate an absolutely closed Medical Service in the East African group.
1554: It is in West Africa, absolutely closed.-I see. 1555. Sir Harry Verney: Was that commencing salary of £400 new on the 1st April?-It was the same before, except that it was £400 fixed for three years; now it is £400 rising by annual increments of £20 to £500.
1658. Is that new from the 1st April?-The incre- mental scale is new from the 1st April, 1919, and the duty allowance of £40 is new.
1557. And that is enough, you think, to attract a good Medical Officer? Well, I do not know what number of applications has come in.
1558. It is all you recommend?-£400 is what the Civil Service Commission in East Africa recommends as commencing salary.
1569. Chairman: What was the date of that Com- mission? I sat in 1918.
1560. Mr. Fiddian: You modelled the new initial
47
[Continued-
scale for Medical Officers on the West African scheme? -Yes.
1581. So if the West African Service were put up, you would have to consider a similar increase?—Yes. 1562. In West Africa, for instance, a man who has remained for three years at £600 would go on to a scale of £650, if there were nothing against him. You have nothing like that? No. But the Civil Service Commission contemplates what would be an additional grade, with salary on the scale £600 to £700.
1589. The Medical Officers of Health are graded as Medical Officers?—Yes.
1564. That is to say, they get exactly the same pay? -Yes, with an allowance in lieu of private practice. 1565. What is the allowance in lieu of private prac tice? £100 to £50 according to the station.
1506. According to the private practice P-And the amount of public health work involved. It probably works out to much the same thing.
1567. Is there any efficiency bar? Has a man tu go through any course of training before he goes on to this £25 scale?-Not yet, but it has been suggested to the Governors that there should be a course for men to take, similar to the West African arrange- ment. I think the arrangement I refer to is in paragraph 40 of the W.A.M.8. pamphlet.
1568. The salaries of the heads of the Department depend on the responsibility of the place, I take it; do they, or do they not?-Yes, but also on the size of the Department. For instance, it is laid down in Sir Alfred Lascelles recommendations that you could not necessarily estimate the salary for the head of the Department in Uganda by the salary of the corre sponding appointment in East Africa, because the work may be entirely different in its scope.
on
the
1589. Do you think the number of senior appoint- ments sufficient?-Suggestions for an addition to the number of senior appointments have been made to the Governors in East Africa within the last few months, the recommendation of the Advisory Medical and Sanitary Committee for Tropical Africa, after correspondence with
British Medical Association.
1570. Dr. Hood: Do many men from East Africa apply for transfer to other Colonies?-I do not think it is any unusual number. There is always a certain number of applications; but not more from Medical Officers in East Africa than from other branches of the service there.
1671. They do not apply to go to West Africa-I do not recollect any instance. They would usually apply for promotion generally on the required forms. Recently there have been several transfers of Medical Officers from the East African Protectorates.
1572. Mr. Fiddian: That is on promotion?...On promotion.
Chairman: Thank you.
(The Witness withdrew.)
Adjourned till Monday, January 5th, 1920, at 3 p.m.
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