THE DENTAL CORPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1917, Page 6

THE DENTAL CORPS.

NON-ENLISTED MEN AT HIGH PAY. (From our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, July 10. A branch of Defence activity that ha> evoked a <rreat deal of adverse comment was mentioned in the House of Representatives to-day. A Dental Corps, beaded by a Director of Dental Services with a staff of majors, captains, and lieutenants, has been created during the last twelve months for attendance upon the soldiers in the 'training camps. The corps has done exceedingly useful worn in the preparation of recruits' teeth *for encounters with the bully beef and biscuits of war, but it is not clear to the layman why high military rank should have been assigned to the dentists engaged in this work. Many qualified, dentists are serving in the Expeditionary Force. Others have been drawn in thft ballot, and at least two dentists are numbered among the returned soWiers. But the salaried positions in the Dental Corps, with the right to wear officers' uniforni, have all gone to non-enlisted members of' the Dental Association. Why this should be so, or' why the Defence Department should pay large salaries to "dental captains," "dental majors" and "dental colonels," nobody seems to know. Dentists who are outside the circle of military spleridor assort that they would have been ready to undertake the work in camp as civilians at relatively small salaries.