§ SIR C. NAPIERwished to put a question to the Secretary of the Admiralty. Last year the House had granted 30,000l. for the retired list of the Navy. It was promised that the admirals should be reduced to 150, and the captains to 500. 100 captains had retired, but 60 new ones had been put into the list. He wanted to know, therefore, how the captain's list was to be reduced to 500?
§ MR. WARDanswered that the process would be very simple. It was intended to 941 reduce the list to the number at which it was to be permanently kept by only having one promotion for every three deaths. He assured the hon. and gallant Member, that since the general promotion only one post-captain had been made by Lord Auckland, and that was Captain Denman, for services on the coast of Africa, to whom a promise had been made by the preceding Government. 180 captains having accepted the retirement sanctioned by the House last year, the list might have been reduced to 550; but on a general promotion 45 captains had been made, and the list was now 569, instead of 730, as it had formerly been.
§ SIR C. NAPIERonly hoped that the rule of one promotion for three deaths would be stuck to. Seventeen years ago a promise of the same kind had been made, which had been entirely disregarded.