CIVIL AND PRESIDENCY SURGEONS.

In a letter addressed by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce to the Finance Committee, various

reductions in public expenditure are suggested. Among these some retrenchments in the Medi-

cal Department are proposed. The abolition of

the Sauitary Commissioner and the amalgama- tion of the civil and military medical adminis- tration are pointed out as possible means of saving money.

" The salaries of Civil Surgeons and Presidency Surgeons," it is added, "would also

bear revision, due account being taken of cases where opportunities of extensive private prac-

272 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [Sept., 1886.

tice, or plurality of appointments, result in

large emoluments."

The salaries of Civil and Presidency Surgeons were laid down by G.G.O., No. 370, of 4th

April 1867. The scales therein fixed were

based ou the recommendations of a Commission, which was appointed to revise the salaries

attached to Indian medical appointments, civil

and military, substantive and additional. This

task was executed with great labour and care,

and it may be asserted with confidence that

both the recommendations of the Commission

and the orders framed upon them were con-

ceived in a spirit of rigid economy. Due

account was taken of the opportunities which Civil Surgeons enjoy of adding by private

practice to their public pay ; and although the

duties of a Civil Surgeon are undoubtedly more

responsible and far more onerous than those of a Regimental Surgeon, the privilege of private practice was, in the great majority of cases,

taxed by a retrenchment of R,g. 50 a month

of the official pay as compared with the emolu-

ments of an officer of the same rank holdiug a

military charge. The value of the scale of pay laid down in 1867 has undergone during the inter- vening niueteeu years a very sensible decline.

The fall in exchange, the enhancement of

the cost of living, the income-tax, the general rise of house-rent and servants' wages, and the

decrease in the gains obtainable by private practice, owing to hard times all round, have told

heavily ou Civil Surgeous as on other members of

the community?official and non-official; and the

cases are few and far between in which Civil

Surgeons enjoy " large emoluments," whether

from public or private sources, or both. When

they do, they have to work hard euough to earn

them, and, as a rule, those who do most for the

public do most for Government as well. Gov-

ernment in these cases obtains a full equivalent in labour for the remuneration it gives. So with

Presidency Surgeous, their opportunities of

private earnings were also fully considered aud allowed for. This was done in a different way.

Appointments were freely doubled up, and

duties which used to be performed by two men

separately paid were imposed on one at a slight

advance 011 the previous rate of pay of one of the incumbents. The old Presidency Surgeon was in fact abolished, and men, holding Professor-

ships and other executive charges at the Presi-

dency, were held to be available for attendance

on sick officers, service on committees, and

various other duties which have undergone continual increase in number and weight, and are still doing so, and will continue to do so.

The same causes which have depreciated the

value of the salaries of Civil Surgeons have in greater measure affected the pay of medical

officers serving iu the Presidency Towns. The

expense of houses, establishments, and means of

conveyance, which they must maintain to fulfil their official duties, has increased enormously ;

and if they were not allowed to supplement their official salaries by private practice,

they would find it difficult, if not impossible, to live in a manner befitting their position and

responsibilities. The value of private practice is very far from what it used to be, and this

depends on so many circumstances, personal and

otherwise, that it is impossible to conceive how the privilege or opportunity could be taxed

otherwise or more heavily than it is. Any o-eneral scheme of reduction or taxation would O

tell with great injustice and severity on officers, unable or unwilling for any reason to obtain

additional appointments of a private kind or

practice among the general public; on officers

holding officiating appointments for limited

periods; on officers in delicate health with just sufficient energy in them to do their Govern-

ment work and none else; and leave and fur-

lough pay would at the same time be substan-

tially affected without any opportunity or hope of adding to it. Moreover, as in the case of

large civil stations, the men who do most for the public, and whose services are iu most

demand by the public, are, as a rule, the very men who do the most work, and the most valuable work, for Government. The principle of taxing medical officers in civil employ, on account of the opportunities accorded to them by Govern- ment for private practice, has been carried as

far as it reasonably, justly and safely can be.

There is no suggestion iu the letter uuder notice

Sept., 1886.] BENGAL JAILS. 273

of applying any similar rule to the law officers

of Government, who are handsomely paid and earn very handsome additions to their pay by pri- vate practice at the Bar. It is not easy to see

how the proposed plan would work. An official

inspection of bank-books Avould be the only certain way of ascertaining who earned " large emoluments" and who did not; and if the former

were taxed on any principle of proportion to

their private earnings in addition to municipal and income-tax, the effect would be to place a

premium on incapacity,mediocrity,misfortune, or indolence, and render pecuniarily peual populari- ty, skill, energy and usefulness.