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Oliver was promoted surgeon lieut.-commander in1937 and joined H.M.S. Bonaventure as senior medicalofficer in 1940. He leaves a widow and two children.

ALEXANDER ARTHUR SUTTONC.B., D.S.O., L.R.C.P.E. ; MAJOR-GENERAL R.A.M.C. RETD.

Major-General A. A. Sutton, who died at TunbridgeWells on April 12 in his eightieth year, took the Scottishconjoint in 1884 and received.his commission as surgeonthe following year. He was promoted surgeon majorin 1897, and the next year took part in the protectorateexpedition in Sierra Leone, where he was severelywounded. He saw further service in South Africa, wherehe was again wounded at Paardeberg, and he was men-tioned in dispatches and received the D.S.O. At theoutbreak of the last war he was in command of theR.A.M.C. at Aldershot depot, and a colleague has describedhow he worked unceasingly for the welfare of the men ofKitchener’s army many of whom had to be accommodatedat short notice, and how he often stayed with them untilthe early hours of the morning until he saw them com-fortably bedded. In 1915 he was appointed D.D.M.S.in Macedonia, and during his time there he was twicementioned in dispatches, created C.B. and awarded theorder of St. Sava. He returned home to command theR.A.M.C. depot at Blackpool, and it was from here thathe retired in 1922. As a commanding officer GeneralSutton was able to temper discipline with friendliness,and his inner knowledge of his men made his concernfor the well-being of the young soldier fruitful.By his first wife General Sutton had two daughters

and two sons who are now serving in.the R.A.M.C. In1917 he married, as his second wife, Miss Mary Wilson,R.R.C.

HERBERT ELWIN HARRISM.B.LOND., F.R.C.S.

Herbert Elwin Harris was born in 1860 at Binham inNorfolk, where his family had for many generations beengentlemen farmers. He was educated at a school inTruro kept by one of his uncles. He went up to Christ’sCollege, Cambridge, taking his mathematical tripos in1882. At the same time he took his first M.B. andcontinued his medical studies at St. Bartholomew’sHospital, where he qualified M.R.C.S. in 1885 and.L.R.C.P. in 1886, and got his M.B. two years later. Afterqualifying he went to Plymouth as house-surgeon butsoon returned to London, where for some years he workedin various poor-law infirmaries. In 1896 he settled ingeneral practice in Bristol, and it was during this yearhe obtained his F.R.C.S. Shortly afterwards he wasappointed anaesthetist at the Royal Hospital for Womenand Children, and a few years later he was electedsurgeon and given charge of the ear, nose, and throatdepartment. During the last war Dr. Harris was on thestaff of the Second Southern (Territorial) General Hos-pital with the rank of Captain R.A.M.C. and worked asa surgeon at the Beaufort War Hospital, Fishponds,Bristol.

Dr. Harris was president of the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1933-34 and for many years hewas a member of the British Medical Association. In hisearly years of practice he was an enthusiastic cyclist, andlater he was one of the first medical men in Bristol to

drive a motor-car. The hobbies of his later years werephotography and gardening. His patients and his col-leagues found him a friendly, courteous man, and. hewas a skilful surgeon of sound judgment.

Dr. Harris was twice married-first to Miss EdithHigginson, and of this marriage he had three children.A daughter and a son, who succeeded to his father’spractice, survive him. His- second wife, Miss NellieThompson, lived only a year after their marriage, andthey had no children.

In 1934 he retired from practice and lived at Halse,near Taunton, where on May 20 he died suddenly, withina short time of his eighty-first birthday.

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MR. J. H.’ PRINGLE

As one of his oldest friends may I add a few words ofpersonal appreciation to your brief notice of J. HogarthPringle ? We were both hospital residents in Edinburgh’in 1886-87 and we worked together and lived together inLondon afterwards. Pringle, as you remark, had notthe pen of a ready writer and public speaking was no

pleasure to him, although he could on occasion expresshimself clearly and forcibly both in speech and writing.His manner undoubtedly had a certain aloofness, partlythe result of shyness, partly the result of absorption inthe work on which -he happened to be engaged, but it soonbecame warm and cordial. In a little coterie of his ownfriends he was full of geniality and a somewhat sardonichumour. But he was a true kindhearted friend, andgenerous almost to a fault in any case of real need.-J. T.

Parliament

Care of the Merchant Seamen

IN the House of Lords on May 20 the Earl of CORK andORRERY complained that there was an unfair differentia-tion under the Ministry of Health’s hospital schemebetween the treatment accorded to invalid merchantseamen and patients from the Royal Navy, the Armyand the Air Force. Officers and men in the mercantilemarine, he said, were not classed as " service sick " or" service casualties," and they did not get the serviceration. In certain circumstances they were supposedto contribute to the cost of their maintenance in hospital- a charge unknown against a naval rating. Thismatter had been taken up by the Seamen’s HospitalSociety, and the official reply was that " unless injuredas a result of enemy action, or unless injured by anythingwhich happened at any point of time when the man wason duty," the seaman was to be asked to contributetowards his maintenance ; how could the " point of time "be determined at which a man had contracted, say,pneumonia or rheumatism, or when heart affection or- eyestrain or nervous spasm started ? He urged thatall these petty restrictions should be swept away andthe officers and men of the Merchant Navy should beplaced on the same footing as their comrades, of theRoyal Navy.Lord AlLWYN, as post captain, and Lord GIFFORD as

lieutenant commander, supported the admiral of thefleet’s appeal, and Lord Gifford pointed out that thesailor is a man who likes his moan.

In reply Lord CROFT, parliamentary secretary to theWar Office, assured Lord Cork that officers and men ofthe Merchant Service receive the same medical treat-ment under the Emergency Hospital scheme as membersof the fighting services. Treatment was given at thecost of the Government for injuries, including illnesses,due to enemy action or sustained in the course of theirduty, even if not due to enemy action. These menwould get all the advantages of the nation-wide organi-sation of the E.H.S. They were admitted or transferredto the hospital best suited for dealing with their case, andwere sent, if necessary, to special centres, such as ortho-paedic hospitals,, head centres or chest centres. Con-valescent treatment could be given where needed atone of the Red Cross auxiliary hospitals.

If a seaman was suffering from an ordinary illness,not directly arising from his calling and was absentfrom his home town, he could be admitted to an E.M.S.hospital. The only difference from the services was thatunless the man belonged to a contributory scheme, hewould be asked to make a contribution. The Govern-ment, however, defrayed the rest of the cost. This wasconsidered no hardship in view of the rates of pay Qf theMerchant Navy. In the seaman’s home town the localhospital would admit him, and the usual financialarrangements of the hospital would apply. At themoment the. service patient was entitled to a highermeat ration than the merchant seaman, but the Ministerof War Transport has asked the Minister of Food toconsider whether the Merchant Navy could not be puton the same footing as the Royal Navy.

A National Fire ServiceThe debate on the Fire Services (Emergency Pro-

visions) Bill, which passed through all its stages at asingle sitting of the Commons, resolved itself more orless into a discussion on how our system of local govern-ment was standing up to the strain of total war. On thewhole, the House felt that it was unfair to ask localauthorities to go on dealing with services-such as fire-fighting-which had become military operations ratherthan municipal functions, and Commander STEPHEN

711PARLIAMENT

KING-HALL reminded members that in the past we hadfound it necessary to remove the Navy from the controlof the burgesses of the Cinque Ports and make it anational service.The central proposal of the bill is the welding of the

1400 fire brigades of England and Wales into fewer than50 large fire-fighting forces, which will be organised inregions, each with a regional commissioner and underthe general direction of a chief of staff in London. Inmoving the bill Mr. H. MORRISON admitted the firebrigade was often held to be the brightest jewel in themunicipal crown, but experience in recent air-raids hadshown that the small size of the basic units of the muni-cipal fire services was a fundamental weakness.In a review of other civil-defence improvements Mr.

Morrison said he was suggesting to local authoritieswho could not supply meals for A.R.P. workers that anallowance of 2s. should be paid to volunteers on aneight-hour spell of duty, and 3s. for a twelve-hour spell.Paid A.R.P. members absent through sickness up to amaximum of 13 weeks will get full pay in future, not onlywhen the sickness is due to war service injuries but alsowhen it arises out of other conditions of their service.He hoped to arrange for whole-time workers in heavilyraided districts to receive one free return railway vouchera year for their annual holiday.

National Health Insurance

In a statement to the House after question time Mr.E. BROWN said :The Government intend to introduce legislation shortly"

designed to give effect to certain changes in the health-insurance scheme to meet war-time conditions. The Govern-ment hopes to overhaul the existing schemes -of social insur-ance, particularly health and pensions insurance and work-men’s compensation. Legislation for so wide a purpose couldnot be introduced at an early date, but the Government areof opinion that the comprehensive survey of the existingschemes-an essential preliminary-should be set on foot atonce as part of post-war planning. This survey is to beundertaken forthwith by the Minister without Portfolio inassociation with the other ministers concerned. The Billwhich the Government intend to introduce shortly will pro-pose, as from the commencement of the next benefit year in

January next, to increase by 3s. the statutory rates of sicknessand disablement benefits payable under the Health InsuranceActs. That is to say, the sickness benefit for a man would beraised from 15s. to 18s., and his disablement benefit from7s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. For single women and widows the newrates would be 15s. and 9s. respectively, and for marriedwomen 13s. and 8s. Additional benefits will, of course, con-tinue to be payable over and above these minimum rates.These changes will be made possible by the payment of stategrant on the usual basis and by increasing by 2d. the weeklycontributions payable in respect of men and women alike-Id. of this increase to be borne by the employer and Id. by theinsured person.The Bill will also propose to raise to 420, as from January

next, the remuneration limit for the compulsory health andpensions insurance of non-manual workers. In addition toother health and pensions rights, this will give to rather lessthan 500,000 fresh persons a title to free medical treatmentand attendance, and the new position thus created is beingdiscussed with the medical profession.

QUESTION TIME

Diphtheria ImmunisationSir FRANCIS FREMANTLE asked the Minister if he would take

action to promote a concentrated effort to secure immunisa-tion of all children against diphtheria, in order to save the lossof some 2500 children from death every year and to stampout the disease as had been done in other countries.-Mr.- BROWN replied : A vigorous campaign to promote theimmunisation of children against diphtheria is already beingpursued, in cooperation with the Central Council of HealthEducation, through the medium of special posters and leaflets,circulars to local authorities, broadcast talks, press publicity,films and window displays. Every possible step will continueto be taken to bring home to parents the importance of thismatter.-Sir F. FREMANTLE: Is anything being done to askmembers of Parliament to assist this drive to stamp out thisappalling disease ?-Mr. BROWN I I am sure members willtake note of that.

Commander R. T. BOWER: Certain members of the medicalprofession are opposed to immunisation and that does notdo much good to the campaign.-Sir F. FREMANTLE : Thereare members of the Navy who are opposed to the naval policy.

Vitamin Biscuits

Mr. G. MANDER asked the Parliamentary Secretary to theMinistry of Food whether he would now give consideration tothe possibility of preventing most cases of nutritional deficien-cies by providing a biscuit, for all who desired it, containingthe minimum daily requirements of the most importantvitamins and minerals, in view of the fact that production ofsuch an article on a large scale would be simple and cheap.-Major G. LLOYD-GEORGE replied that this matter had beencarefully considered. There was much natural. vitaminavailable, and constant research was being carried out withregard to putting vitamins into various forms of food, butinvestigations had shown that biscuits were not the bestform of food in which to put vitamins.

Conscription of Doctors in Northern IrelandMr. D. J. LITTLE asked the Prime Minister whether he had

considered the resolution from the Northern Ireland branchof the British Medical Association to the effect that conscrip-tion should be applied at once to the medical profession inNorthern Ireland on the same basis as in Great Britain ; andwhether he would accede to this request.-Mr. C. ATTLEEwho replied said : The Prime Minister is unable to trace the

receipt of the resolution. If he may have a copy it will beconsidered in connexion with the statement on the generalquestion of applying conscription in Northern Ireland whichhe hopes to make very soon.

[Mr. CHURCHILL has since stated that conscription will notbe applied to Northern Ireland.]

SLIDING SCALE FOR NURSESThe Royal College of Nursing has recommended the

following standard scale of yearly salaries for nurses.Staff-nurse 100-5-6150.Ward sister 150—10—250 (sister ifc of a department

20 more).Housekeeping sister 160-10-220.Night superintendent 200-10-250.Night sister 150-6200.Salaries of matron, assistant matron, and home sister

depend on the number of beds within the following limits:Less than 100 beds Over 500 beds

Matron.. 250-25-400 600-50-1000Asst. matron £175-£25-£250 £300-£25-£500

For home sisters the scale begins at 2140 in the smallerhospitals rising to a maximum of 2220 after five years’service in the larger. The college holds that a sistertutor should never alone be responsible for more than60 students and suggests the following salaries :

Sister tutor (single-handed) £200-£15-£350.Sister tutor (with two assistants) £300-£25-£500.Asst. sister tutor (qualified) E200-Y,15-E350.Asst. sister tutor (unqualified) £150-£10-£250.

The -college discourages the tendency to increase thesalaries of student nurses out of proportion to those ofthe qualified nurses. The Minister of Health has an-nounced a commencing salary of 240 for nurses trainingunder the Civil Nursing Reserve scheme. For others thecollege recommends a salary of E30 rising to 235, £40and JB50 in the second, third and fourth years. Non-resident allowances should be assessed as follows.

Administrative grades...... £120 p.a.Sisters.......... £110 Staff-nurses ........ E104 "

Manchester public-health committee has recommendedthe city council to authorise an annual rise of £25 ontheir basic wages to all trained nurses and sisters intheir hospitals. This means that nurses will now startat £95 p.a. The salary of student nurses will be raisedfrom £30 to JB40. for their first year. Middlesbrough cor-poration is also raising the salaries of its nurses. Assist-ant matrons, home sisters, night sisters, ward sisters andstaff-nurses will begin at their former maximum rates(£125, £120, .E115, £110 and £95 respectively) but willreceive no annual increments ; student nurses will startat £35 and rise to £45.