The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1864.

In a thin House at the very end of a session we
may often find measures of considerable importance
brought forward without sufficient heed being taken
of their scope and tendency. We have just had a
notable instance of
this in the India Medical Service
Bill, which was tt
a—empted to be passed, but was
thrown out by a -very Mr.
small majority.
HENNESSY and Mr• , TONGFTELD and others
did good service in pointing out its
-
injurious
tendency. Sir CuArxes wooD appears to
have ,a special preference for bringing forward
everything pertaining to his department when
entr3ies are exhausted, moments brief, and the
gew2ral feelicg of the political world is to get
throngs the work that remains with as little delay
and
trouble as possible. Whether such a time is
the best suited for careful consideration of Indian
matters may be very much doubted. Sir CHARLES
-WOOD probably thinks that his awn edicts are so
perfect that it wculd be idle to trouble the House
with them at an earlier and busier portion of
the session. 139 Bill in question, however, is
one within the reach of every one's comprehen-
sion and experience, however little he
may have studied the general aspect of Indian
affairs. .he want which is felt in the Indian army
is felt a:Se in the regular army, and it is a want of
st:ch importance that public attention should at
once be called to the ratter. It 6ppears that a

very great ;deficiency exists in the number of roe.
dical officers for the Indian army. The Assistant.
Surgeons at present obtain their appointments by
competition according to the usual rule. It is
generally found when public appointments are thus
thrown open that the number of candidates very
greatly exceeds the list of vacancies. But what is
the case with the Indian medical service ? Sir
CHARLES WOOD, in replying to Mr HENNESSY on
Friday night, said that a return of the last three
examinations showed that for 90 vacancies th ere
were only 72 candidates, of whom only 50 sme-
ceeded in passing, so that the supply of eighteen
months has fallen short of the demand by forty
men, This is confirmed by Sir JOHN LAWILENCE,
who states that •the medical service in Bengal is
short by 20 officers, and that the deficiency else,
where is still greater. And what is our Indian
Secretary's cure for ail this ? As he cannot get a
proper supply of efficient men on his terras he
proposes to atone for it by taking in the inefficient.
Competitive examinations have proved, he says, a
failure, and evidently he regards them as such, be.
cause they deprived him of 22 out of the united
number of candidates who presented themselves.
He therefore brings forward a bill " to make pro-
vision for her MAJESTY'S Indian Forces, which is
to empower the Secretary of State to make, from
time to time, such regulations for the appointment
of medical officers as he may think fit; and to en-
able the Governors of the Indian provinces to do the
same thing subject to his revision. This means
that these authorities are to be allowed to put into
the service men who cculd not have passed the test
of an examination. In a country where the
exigencies of climate, the deficient sanitary arrange-
ments, and the ignorance and imprudence of Euro-
peans render our troops so especially liable to sick-
ness, and demand unusual skill, intelligence, and
energy on the part of the medical officer, men are
to be appointed who do not know their business.
When we are always liable to the possibility of a
war, or, at least, a brief campaign, such as that on
the north-western frontier, the same incompetent
assistants are to dress the wounds and amputate the
limbs of our suffericg soldiers. It is always blame-
able for a Government to allow or encourage the
appointment of men to public offices who are unequal
to their post, but in an instance like this to sanc-
tion the appointment of ignorant men is an act of the
greatest cruelty. The horrors of warare surely great
enough without any needless aggravation, but if an
unskilled or ignorant medical officer is to attempt
to relieve the misery of the sick and wounded, how-
ever great his wish to do good, he will probably
lose the service a good many lives. There is
another and much simpler mode of rectifying
the discrepancy between the number of officers
wanted and the number forthcoming. The
medical branch cf the service have, it is said,
been harshly and unjustly treated ; they re-
ceive a very illiberal remuneration, and are not
allowed to occupy their proper position in the army.
The profession, in consequence, declines to enter
lists for these appointments. Its members are cer-
tainly numerous enough to supply every vacancy,
and the eagerness with which a fixed appointment
is generally sought after in oar crowded professions
shows how great must be the mistake or neglect on
the part of the authorities, who have so thoroughly
disgusted the members of this one with their ser-
vice. For the want which is becoming so serious in
our Indian service is also largely felt in our general
army, and consequently Sir CHARLES WOOD's
excuse that the principal object of his bill was to
enable the assistant surgeons of the QUEEN'S army
to volunteer into the Indian service was little
heeded. Colonel NORTH remarked that so scarce
were assistant surgeons in the regular army that
the Government had been forced to extend the
limit of age for admission first to 25 and afterwards
to 40; while quite a new class had lately sprung
up—acting assistant surgeons, men, we presume,
who fufil the duties of assistant surgeons without
being regularly qualified for the appointment.
This is not a very hopeful source of supply for India,
when we have not enough for England and else-
where. But the whole principle is in fault. If men
are to be appointed to offices of so much importance
they ought to be properly qualified, and if the com-
petition be moderate and practical in its nature,
it would never keep back those who ought to pass.
But it is evident that the fault lies in the appoint..
ment and not in the examination, since not only the
number of successful candidates, but the total
number of applicants, fell far short of the list of
vacancies. If the Government reformed their salaries
and improved their position, there is little doubt the
army would be as well supplied with surgeons as
with any other officers, but it is easier and cheaper
to pass incompetent men. At least, it is apparently
cheaper, for a soldier's life in India is too costly to
be lightly trifled with.

There are few more difficult tasks than to
attempt the amelioration of the condition of the
working classes. In the matter of their dwellings,
more especially, there is ample scope for the exer•
cise of ingenuity and the practice of patience. So
much must be done before any effectual end is
gained, and the obstructions are so numerous, the
opposition so continuous, that it sometimes seems
an almost impossible task to make any progress in
the complicated affair. It is very satisfactory to
find that the company of which Lord STANLEY is
Chairman, still prosecute their labours and keep
up their exertions in the estimable undertaking in
which they are engaged. Last Friday a meeting
was held at the Mansion House, and the details
are very well worth consideration: Mr. Alderman
WATERLOW, the Deputy Chairman, presided in
the absence of Lord STANLEY, and the report of
the transactions of the company was read, It is
very gratifying to find that the directors have
" undiminished confidence in the success of the
enterprise," and this notwithstanding the increased
demand for labour and the high price of bricks has
greatly augmented the coat of the dwellings. It
is quite evident that the labours of this company
represent a necessity of the times, they are closely
allied with the greatest principles and the greatest
scandals of the age we live in. As day after day,
and week after week, witnesses the structure
of some immense building, or the design of
some important social improvement in the way
of architecture and the construction of railways, so
also do these changes and alterations bear dark
events in their train, and herald the advent of
misery to many a srnall.-but nourishing homestead,
and bear the mandate of doom to the poor man's
simple but convenient habitation. Go where we
will we must meet with the traces of these things,
and hear the complaints made by the unfortunate
individuals who are driven forth few know where,
and fewer still care. This is not as it should be,
and the political economist who understands kis
science will recognise the inadvisability of the
course now being pursued so recklessly and at so
great an extent. The sufferings and inconveniences
to which the lower orders have been put by the
mania for railways that has spread in all directions,
and the erection of other public works and large
buildings in all imaginable localities, cannot pos-
sibly be overrated, Too much cannot possibly be
done on all sides to obviate as far as practicable the
spread of ruin and dejection that threatens to over-
run an active and industrious population, and caw