ance for commutation of quarters of Nurse Corps, U. S. Navy. "Noted and respectfully forwarded to the office of the Judge-Advocate-General of the Navy. 1. The instructions covering the pay and allowances of female nurses were prepared in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts after consultation with the Assistant Comptroller of the Treasury and the law clerk in the office of the Auditor for the Navy Department. Particular attention was invited to the provision relating to commutation for quarters for female nurses. "2. While commutation, as far as this bureau knows, has not been paid to female nurses in the Army, it was found that conditions in the Navy, where there is a greater number of general hospitals and probably greater frequency of transfers, and therefore more uncertainty as to the number of nurses for whom quarters would be necessary, made it, if not impracticable, at least undesirable for the department to rent quarters. "3. After a full discussion of the subject it was decided that there would be no objection to authorizing commutation in an amount which would not exceed the rate ordinarily paid by the Government, especially as such an arrangement appeared to be in the interest of economy. It was considered a compliance with the law if female nurses were given quarters whether rented directly or indirectly. "4. Quarters have been rented at Norfolk and it is understood by the bureau that Government quarters will soon be available for female nurses at all of the principal naval stations. "The Acting Secretary of the Navy advises this office: "NAVY DEPARTMENT, "OFFICE OF THE JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL, "Subject: Auditor for the Navy Department (No. 220), November 13, 1909, requests information concerning allowance for commutation of quarters of Nurse Corps, U. S. Navy. "Respectfully returned to the Auditor for the Navy Department, inviting attention to the preceding indorsements hereon. "The provision for payment of $15 per month to nurses not occupying public quarters was inserted in the Regulations and Instructions for the Nurse Corps, U. S. Navy, upon approval by the Secretary of the Navy, dated August 12, 1908. There are transmitted herewith copies of all papers on file in the department bearing upon the question. "WILLIAM S. COWLES, Acting Secretary of the Navy.' "The Comptroller, in a decision to the Secretary of the Navy (MS. Dec., September 19, 1907), relating to heat and light for officers of the Army, authorized by the act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat., 1167), it was held that "Under this act the Secretary of War alone has authority to prescribe the regulations under which officers may be furnished heat and light actually necessary for the authorized allowance of quarters. "It necessarily follows that any regulation made by you for the guidance of navy officers must conform to the regulations made by the Secretary of War under the statute.' "As the superintendent, chief nurses, and nurses shall, respectively, receive the same pay, allowances, emoluments, and privileges as are now or may be provided for by or in pursuance of law for the Nurse Corps (female) of the Army, and as quarters for the Nurse Corps (female) are rented by the Quartermaster's Department of the Army, I am of opinion and so decide that the payment to the Nurse Corps (female) of $15 per month as commutation of quarters is unauthorized." The Acting Chief of Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, as above quoted, states: "1. The instructions covering the pay and allowances of female nurses were prepared in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts after consultation with the Assistant Comptroller of the Treasury and the law clerk in the office of the Auditor for the Navy Department. Particular attention was invited to the provision relating to commutation for quarters for female nurses." The question as to the right of female nurses of the Navy to commutation for quarters has never heretofore been formally presented to or considered by this office and I now have no recollection that the matter was ever informally presented to me, but whether it was or was not, the law should control. The act of February 2, 1901 (31 Stat., 753), provides pay and allowances for the Nurse Corps (female) of the Army as follows: ** * And provided, That the superintendent and nurses shall receive transportation and necessary expenses when traveling under orders; that the pay and allowances of nurses, and of reserve nurses, when on active service, shall be forty dollars per month when on duty in the United States and fifty dollars per month when without the limits of the United States. They shall be entitled to quarters, subsistence, and medical attendance during illness, and they may be granted leaves of absence for thirty days, with pay, for each calendar year; and, when serving as chief nurses, their pay may be increased by authority of the Secretary of War, such increase not to exceed twenty-five dollars per month. Payments to the Nurse Corps shall be made by the Pay Department." The Nurse Corps of the Navy was established by the act of May 13, 1908 (35 Stat., 146), and provides pay and allowances for the members of the corps by assimilating them to those of the Army nurses as follows: (* * * the superintendent, chief nurses, and nurses shall respectively 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 act of February 2, 1901, supra, provides for quarters in kind, but it has never been construed to give commutation for quarters to members of the Nurse Corps of the Army. Quarters, or any other allowance in kind, is quite distinct from commutation thereof, and such distinction is always recognized in legislation. When commutation of an allowance is given it is done by specific provision. There is an item under "Pay of the Navy" in the naval appropriation act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 753), for "rent of quarters for members of the Nurse Corps," but I know of no authority of law which authorizes the commutation of such quarters at any valuation, and the payment of the same to the nurses. Quarters in kind may be hired by the paymaster or by his direction, but the rent must be paid to the person from whom the rooms or quarters are hired. The maximum amount which may be paid for the hire of quarters for each person is a proper matter for departmental regulations. The Auditor's decision is approved. DETAIL OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES AS A BOARD OF EXPERTS FOR SERVICE IN CONNECTION WITH CERTAIN TRIBAL INDIAN SCHOOLS. If a board of experts is necessary to accomplish the purposes of the act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 781, 804), for the maintenance, strengthening, and enlarging of the tribal schools of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations, such board would be "authorized by law" within the meaning of the act of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1027), and the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to detail any officers and employees for service on such board as are not within the limitations of section 166 of the Revised Statutes as amended by the act of May 28, 1896 (29 Stat., 179). A detail being in effect a mere assignment of an officer or employee to a duty other than his regular duty and not constituting a new appointment or employment, the salaries of such officers or employees as are detailed for service on such board of experts would continue to be payable from the appropriation under which they were appointed or employed. The expenses of such officers and employees, legally incurred in the performance of service under such detail, are payable from the appropriation contained in said act of March 3, 1909, supra, and the Secretary of the Interior has authority to order such expenses paid directly from said appropriation without the necessity of a transfer settlement to adjust appropriations. In case of suspension of an officer or employee in connection with such schools, the compensation of an officer or employee in the Indian Service detailed to perform the duties of such suspended officer or employee can not be paid from the appropriation contained in said act of March 3, 1909, supra. Comptroller Tracewell to the Secretary of the Interior, January 11, 1910: You request my decision of certain questions stated by you in your letter of January 5, 1910, as follows: "In accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the act approved July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 162, 208), I have the honor to request your opinion as to whether payment of the salaries and expenses of a board of experts to be composed of officers and employees detailed from several different branches of the Indian Service to investigate the conditions of the schools among the Five Civilized Tribes, and to report thereon, with the view of ascertaining the proper administrative course to pursue with reference thereto, can be made from the fund 'Indian schools, Five Civilized Tribes, 1910.' "The fund was appropriated by the Indian appropriation act, approved March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 781, 804), which is as follows: 666 For the maintenance, strengthening, and enlarging of the tribal schools of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations, and making provision for the attendance of children of parents of other than Indian blood therein, and the establishment of new schools under the control of the Department of the Interior, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Interior, and disbursed by him under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe.' Your further opinion is requested whether in case of suspension of an officer or employee in connection with such schools, an officer or employee in the Indian Service may be detailed to perform the duties of such suspended officer or employee, and paid from said appropriation during the time he is thus employed." Section 9 of the act of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1027), provides: "That hereafter no part of the public moneys or of any appropriation heretofore or hereafter made by Congress shall be used for the payment of compensation or expenses of any commission, council, board, or similar body, or any members thereof, or for expenses in connection with any work or the results of any work or action of any commission, council, board, or other similar body, unless the creation of the same shall be or shall have been authorized by law; nor shall there be employed by detail, hereafter or heretofore made, or otherwise personal services from any executive department or other government establishment in connection with such commission, council, board, or other similar body." The act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 781, 804), quoted in your letter, provided for three things, viz: (1) "For the maintenance, strengthening, and enlarging of the tribal schools of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations," (2) "and making provision for the attendance of children of parents of other than Indian blood therein;" (3) "and the establishment of new schools under the control of the Department of the Interior." For these several purposes an appropriation of $150,000 was made, or "so much thereof as may be necessary," "to be placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Interior, and |