* * * * Shortage of Nurses The discussion in
the House of Commons on Tuesday on the shortage of nurses was important when it is realised that nursing is now more urgently than ever a part of national defence. The Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Nursing formulated the grievances of the profession in what was in effect the nurses' charter of essential demands. Those points are common ground to all who have recently contributed to what Sir Francis Fremantle called in the House "the rising storm of complaints that nurses were overworked, underpaid, subjected to excessive discipline and restriction and that the pension system was unsatisfactory." Since the Government, according to Mr. Elliot, accept the general conclusions of the interdepartmental committee, it is good news that they do not propose to defer all action until the final report is delivered. The extent to which war would increase the need for nurses is indicated by Mr. Elliot's call for ioo,000 volunteers—" not only from the towns, but from country places wherever a few can be got together for train- ing." This is, as he said, peculiarly the women's own service. It would be wise policy to put through a short-term pro- gramme at once to remove the more outstanding grievances.
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