"AMICABLY SETTLED"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 146, 9 March 1918, Page 6

"AMICABLY SETTLED "

DUAL CONTROL OF SICK AND WOUNDED SOLDIMS.

"You may 'say that the little difficulty that nas existed in Cabinet lor some time has been amicably settled." This announcement was made by the Prime Minister to a Dominion reporter after a meeting of Cabinet held at an unusually late hour yesterday afternoon. ■ •

"What was the trouble?" Mr. Mas-

sey was asked. ■ ' "Don't ask me," replied. Mr. Massey. "You have seen it referred to in newspapers frequently of late." It (has been well-known for some time that the Defence Minister and. the Minister of Public Health have not been able to. see eye to eye in the matter of the control of returned sick and wounded soldiers. Under the arrangements existing there was a measure of dual control, which did not make for smooth, working or general efficiency. It i 6 well-known that thd •Ministers have • impinged .sharply on more_ than one occasion,, and a final decision on the disputed. points had soonor or later to be made by Cabinet. The only solution -of the difficulty was the abolition of the • dual control. •Soldiers returning.., sick awl wounded have • been under . the Health Department for some purposes and under the Defence Department for other purposes. The Defence Department must be the dominant Department- until a man is discharged, and it-is probable that the* settlement arrivecLat- will involve the resumption by .the Department of Defence of all institutions for ' returned sick and. wounded soldiers.