asked the Minister of Health whether the staff employed by the central index committee, which have been transferred to the insurance branch of the Ministry of Health and who were in what was really permanent employment, are now regarded as in temporary or permanent employment?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:

The staff in question are employed in a temporary capacity. While in the employment of the central index committee they were engaged on a weekly or monthly basis, and these conditions are retained during the period of their temporary employment in the Ministry.

Is it not the case that some of these people have been employed continuously since the passage of the National Health Insurance Act, and that they are now threatened with the loss of their employment?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:

That may be so. There are numbers whose employment was temporary.