and regulation to the administrative department or agency involved, the present matter was referred to the Secretary of War for his consideration, his views being requested as follows:

* in view of the provision in the regulations that "It is the responsibility of the heads of the departments and establishments to see that travel orders authorize only such per diem rates as are justified by the nature of the travel" and to exercise care “to prevent the fixing of a per diem rate in excess of that required to meet the necessary authorized expenses," information is requested as to whether you, as head of the Department here involved, do or do not approve and consider as "justified by the nature of the travel" the travel orders issued in this case. In other words, is it your view, as the administrative official in whom is vested broad authority respecting travel by employees of your Department (see by analogy 37 Op. Atty. Gen. 219, 222), that an employee whose duty station and home is in New York is entitled to $5 per diem for 30 days and $2.40 per diem for the ensuing 80%1⁄2 days of a temporary duty tour. to a point located only two miles beyond the corporate limits of New York City and apparently involving no additional subsistence costs?

In his reply, by letter of December 20, 1941, the Secretary of War stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

Since the claimant did not remain at the place of temporary duty, but returned daily to his home during the period involved, and such travel has been performed by him voluntarily and of his own accord, there is, of course, for consideration and determination what settlement is proper under such conditions. Where the actual absence from the employee's home or headquarters was entirely between the hours of 8 a. m. and 6 p. m., there is, of course, no basis for the claim for per diem on such days. In those instances where the absence commenced shortly before 8 a. m. and ended shortly after 6 p. m. or both, it is considered that there is no basis for payment of per diem for fractional days unless it can be definitely shown that it was necessary to begin or end the travel prior to 8 a. m. or subsequent to 6 p. m. No such explanation has been offered by the administrative officer concerned. As a matter of fact such officer has recommended that no per diem whatever be allowed in connection with the claim. In that recommendation I concur.

With reference to so much of the claim as relates to additional transportation expenses, the administrative officer in the field has recommended against the allowance of any part of the additional sum of $39.71 claimed by Mr. Woolman by reason of the fact that the travel was voluntary and contrary to the intent of the orders. Since the claimant has not disclosed the basis of the alleged additional cost of transportation, it is my view that he should not be allowed any reimbursement for transportation expenses in connection with the voucher now before your office and that he should be advised that, if he can definitely show an expense for any transportation which he necessarily incurred in complying with the orders, he should submit such claim with the necessary evidence to the Claims Division of the General Accounting Office for direct settlement as a claim.

The above views are submitted in response to your request in the last paragraph of your letter of September 9, 1941, and refer to the particular case under consideration. As to cases of the same general nature, it is stated that my views are entirely in harmony with the regulations governing such travel, and particularly with the requirement in paragraph 45 of the Standardized Government Travel Regulations quoted at the top of page 6 of your letter of September 9, 1941. (The requirement in paragraph 45 thus referred to is the italicized portion of said paragraph as hereinbefore quoted.)

Considering this matter in the light of the terms of the applicable law and regulations, and the administrative recommendation as submitted by the Secretary of War, you are advised, in response to the first question presented, that a War Department employee officially stationed and living within the corporate limits of Greater New York is not entitled, under facts and circumstances similar to those presented in this case, to per diem while on temporary duty at Yonkers

N. Y. Since the first question is answered in the negative, it becomes unnecessary to answer the second question presented.

While payment is not authorized on the travel expense voucher submitted with your letter—and which voucher will be retained in the files of this office-Mr. Woolman should be advised, in accordance with the suggestion of the Secretary of War, that if a claim for additional travel expense incurred as the direct result of performance of temporary official duty at Yonkers is submitted to this office, properly supported by evidence which will establish that such additional expenses were in fact incurred, the matter will be given due consideration.

(B-22785)

CLOTHING-NAVY NURSE CORPS (FEMALE)—APPROPRIATION AVAILABILITY

Unless and until there is definite and specific statutory provision therefor, members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female) may not be gratuitously issued a quantity of clothing in excess of that upon which appropriations have been based since the act of January 22, 1923, which for the first time provided for the authorized issue of clothing and equipment to members of said Nurse Corps.

Assistant Comptroller General Elliott to the Secretary of the Navy, January 23, 1942:

There has been received your letter of December 26, 1941, as follows:

The Navy Department has under consideration the question of the wearing of an outdoor uniform by members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female), which in turn raises the further question as to whether an allowance to cover the cost of this additional item of clothing may be granted. This proposed issue of an outdoor uniform would be made in the case of all Navy nurses (female), including those already appointed.

The Navy Nurse Corps (female) was established by the Act of May 13, 1908 (35 Stat. 146; 34 U. S. C. 41). Provision for the pay and allowance of female nurses of the Navy is found in section 13 of the Act of June 10, 1922 (42 Stat. C31; 37 U. S. C. 22), as follows:

"That, commencing July 1, 1922, the annual pay of female nurses of the Army and Navy shall be as follows: During the first three years of service, $840; from the beginning of the fourth year of service until the completion of the sixth year of service, $1,080; from the beginning of the seventh year of service until the completion of the ninth year of service, $1,380; from the beginning of the tenth year of service, $1,560. Superintendents of the Nurse Corps shall receive a money allowance at the rate of $2,500 a year, assistant superintendents, directors, and assistant directors at the rate of $1,500 a year, and chief nurses at the rate of $600 a year, in addition to their pay as nurses. Nurses shall be entitled to the same allowance for subsistence as is authorized in section 5 of this Act for officers receiving the pay of the first period, and to the same allowance for rental of quarters as is authorized in section 6 of this Act for officers receiving the pay of the first period."

Appointments of Navy nurses are made by the Surgeon General of the Navy with the approval of the Secretary of the Navy. The question is well settled that Navy nurses are not officers, nor are they entitled to relative rank, as provided for nurses of the Army. The Comptroller General has ruled that members of the Navy Nurse Corps are not officers of the Navy, and, not being entitled to mileage, are entitled to reimbursement of travel expenses and per diem in lieu of actual subsistence while traveling under orders. (Comp. Gen. A-50986, October 7, 1933.) The Comptroller General has also ruled that the appointment and

service of female nurses of the Navy are such as to give them generally a military status, as distinguished from a civilian status, and, as such, deduction on account of land-grant should be made on the payment of charges for transportation required or authorized by the Government in connection with their duty. (1 Comp. Gen. 355, citing 1 id. 233, which held that commissioned Army nurses are "troops" of the United States within the meaning of the land-grant statutes.) While members of the Navy Nurse Corps are neither officers nor enlisted men, they have a military status as distinguished from a civilian status, are persons in the naval service, and when on duty in accordance with law are amenable to naval discipline the same as are members of other corps of the Navy. is, however, no provision of law which in terms specifically authorizes the furnishing of heat and light to members of the Navy Nurse Corps as expressly provided for officers and enlisted men under the Act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat. 1167; 10 U. S. C. 723), nor is there any specific statutory authority for furnishing uniform clothing at public expense to members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female).

There

Section 1296, Revised Statutes (10 U. S. C. 831), provides that the President may prescribe the quantity and kind of clothing that shall be issued annually to the Army and Marine Corps pursuant to his authority to prescribe such issues of clothing for "troops of the United States," but since the Comptroller General has ruled that enlisted men of the Navy are not "troops of the United States" within the meaning of section 1296, R. S., the President is without authority to prescribe issues of clothing to enlisted men of the Navy. It would therefore appear that if enlisted men of the Navy are not "troops of the United States" within the meaning of Section 1296, R. S., there is considerable doubt that Navy nurses are "troops of the United States," as are Army nurses, and that Navy nurses are not, therefore, entitled to clothing at Government expense under the authority of the President to prescribe issues of clothing to "troops of the United States."

In consideration of all the foregoing, your decision is requested on the following questions:

(1) Are current naval appropriations legally available to meet the cost of articles of uniform clothing, having a current value of about $91, issued to members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female) on original appointment?

(2) Are current naval appropriations legally available to meet the cost of issuance of an additional item of clothing to members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female), consisting of an outdoor uniform at an estimated cost of $75 per uniform? (3) In connection with queries 1 and 2, your further decision is requested as to the total amount or value of the clothing authorized to be issued at Government expense to members of the Navy Nurse Corps, both on original appointment and subsequent thereto.

The act of May 13, 1908, 35 Stat. 146, establishing the Navy Nurse Corps (female), provided that Navy nurses shall "receive the same pay, allowances, emoluments, and privileges as are now or may hereafter be provided by or in pursuance of law for the Nurse Corps (female) of the Army." The Nurse Corps (female) of the Army was provided for by section 19 of the act of February 2, 1901, 31 Stat. 753. Except as otherwise specifically provided, the benefits authorized by section 19 of the act of February 2, 1901, appear to be exclusive, and inasmuch as nothing appears therein authorizing the furnishing to members of the Army Nurse Corps of free clothing, the view could have been taken administratively that such Army nurses be required to equip themselves with such clothing as may have been necessary in the performance of nursing duties. However, following the act of February 2, 1901, War Department General Orders No. 13 of August 22, 1901, were published covering the Army Nurse Corps, and paragraph 15 thereof prescribed the uniform to consist of a waist and skirt of suitable white material, adjustable white cuffs, bishop collar, white

.

apron and cap, according to patterns and specifications in the Surgeon General's Office. It was provided further that when a nurse was appointed she should immediately procure her uniform which would be worn during her hours of duty and when not in uniform she would not be allowed in the wards without special permission of the chief nurse or the officer in charge. Chapter V of the act of July 9, 1918, 40 Stat. 879, 880, provided that the Nurse Corps (female) of the Medical Department of the Army shall thereafter be known as the Army Nurse Corps, fixed the pay and allowances of its members, including cumulative leave privileges, but this act, like the antecedent legislation on the same subject, was silent as to the free issue of clothing or uniforms to its members. By section 10 of the act of June 4, 1920, 41 Stat. 766, 767, members of the Army Nurse Corps were given relative rank with officers of the Army as therein provided.

Paragraph 21, Army Regulations 40-20 (a), provides that upon initial entry into the military service nurses of the regular corps will be issued free of charge a uniform as listed in the tables of basic allowances. Under the applicable War Department table of basic allowances free items of clothing or uniform are issued only upon initial entry into the service; some of them are issued only in localities where the uniform is required to be worn at all times; the authority to issue certain items free is limited to those nurses assigned to field or overseas service when authorized by the corps area commanders, and some items remain the property of the United States to be turned in on change of station.

The long-continued practice of the War Department of furnishing free of charge certain items of clothing and uniform to members of the Nurse Corps of the Army was evidently based upon the authority contained in section 1296 of the Revised Statutes (10 U. S. C. 831) and this practice having apparently existed prior to the act which conferred relative rank upon such members of the Army Nurse Corps, the appropriations for the military establishment under clothing and equipage have apparently been based upon estimates for the continuance thereof.

In the Navy, however, authority for the issuance of free clothing, even to enlisted men and recruits, apparently did not begin until passage of the act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 781, providing a bounty not to exceed $45 in order to encourage enlistments of boys as apprentices, and except as extended by specific provisions, the authority in the Navy to issue uniform clothing and equipment appears to be limited in scope. Although the act of May 13, 1908, 35 Stat. 146, provided that members of the Navy Nurse Corps (female) shall receive the same pay and allowances, privileges, and emoluments as were then or might thereafter be provided by or in pursuance of law for members of the Army Nurse Corps, no provision appears to have been made

for the issue of clothing and equipment to members of the Navy Nurse Corps until passage of the act of January 22, 1923, 42 Stat. 1145, which provided for the authorized issues of clothing and equipment to members of the Navy Nurse Corps, the clothing and small stores fund to be charged with the value of such issues. Since 1928 such issues have been charged to the appropriation for the pay of naval personnel instead of the clothing and small stores fund, and it is understood that the amount appropriated annually for this particular purpose has been consistently based upon estimates which contemplated only the value of the issue upon original entry into the active naval service of the clothing necessary for ward and hospital duties of the nurses concerned, any additional uniform equipment being procured at the expense of the individual nurse. See article 1431, S. & A. Manual (1931 revision), as to the procedure for crediting the cost of the issue of clothing to nurses on first appointment, the appropriation to be charged, and the provision that replacements or additions to the original gratuitous outfit shall be purchased by the nurse individually.

This office has not been apprised of the individual items which constitute the gratuitous issue upon first appointment to Navy nurses, but upon the basis that the annual appropriation provisions merely contemplated the furnishing of a gratuitous issue similar to that which has heretofore been furnished for the past 18 years, such quantity should not be increased unless and until a definite and specific provision of law has been enacted authorizing the free issue of additional clothing.

(B-23077)

OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES-CONTRACTS WITH THE GOVERNMENTLOW-COST HOUSING OCCUPANCY

If contracts between the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration and its employees for the occupancy of dwelling units in low-cost housing projects be entered into under the same terms and conditions as with nonemployees, and if there be excluded from the list of eligible occupants employees who act in behalf of the United States in the transactions so as not to violate the provisions of 18 U. S. Code 93, such contracts would not be objectionable as being in contravention of the rule of public policy against the Government contracting with its employees or of the prohibition in section 1765, Revised Statutes, against extra allowances or compensation for employees.

Comptroller General Warren to the Secretary of the Interior, January 23, 1942: I have a letter of January 8, 1942, from the Administrator, Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, as follows:

There is presented for your consideration the following question: Whether in the operation of its low-cost housing and resettlement projects this Administration may enter into contracts with its own employees for the occupancy of dwelling units in such projects on the same terms and conditions as those embodied in contracts with nonemployees.

This question is particularly important at the present time for the reason that this Administration has started the construction of 51 low-cost dwellings,