Page:A History of the Indian Medical Service, 1600-1913 Vol 1.djvu/381

 CHAPTER XVIII

PAY

" The labourer is worthy of his hire."

Luke X. 7.

The early medical officers of the East India Company, like their other servants, were by no means highly paid. Prior to the foundation of the Service on ist Jan., 1764, the usual salary seems to have been £36 a year in Bengal and Madras, somewhat more in Bombay. Like the other servants of the Company, however, the Surgeon was not entirely dependent on his pay, which was supplemented, not only by professional practice, but in many cases by trade and similar means.

A Cons, held at Hugh on 12th Dec, 1679, gives a Hst of the Company's servants at that station, then their headquarters in the Bay, which includes —

" M"^ Robert Dowglass, Chyrurgeon, came out in the Eagle and changed place for the Bay. Arrived 16'^ December 1676. £^6 per year."

Five years later, a Letter from Court, dated 26th Nov., 1684, states —

" M"^ Henry Watson is likewise entertained to serve as a Chyrurgeon 's Mate at Hughly or Cassumbuzar (where there is most need of him) for five years at 25 rp a month for the first two years and 30 rs a month for the three last years."

Twenty-five rupees a month does not seem high pay, to our modern ideas, for a European medical officer. It is less than the lowest pay, Rs.30 per month, now drawn by a Civil Hospital Assistant, now called Sub. Asst. Surgeon, on first joining, under the new scale of pay granted in 1910.* But a simple calculation shows that Watson was reaUy better paid than most medical officers in Bengal. The rupee was then worth half a crown.

H.I. M.S. — VOL. I, OA
 * See Chap. XXVII, The Uncovenanted and Subordinate Services.