HC Deb 27 February 1857 vol 144 cc1489-92

On Motion that the House, at its rising, do adjourn to Monday,

SIR JAMES FERGUSSON

said, he wished, in pursuance of notice, to call the attention of the House to the condition in which the Officers of the late Land Transport Corps were placed by the recent changes which had been made, and to put a question upon the subject of their halfpay to the hon. Under Secretary for War. Having spent some years of his life in Her Majesty's service, and having had an opportunity of learning the extreme value of the services of non-commissioned officers, he had taken a great deal of interest in their welfare. He regretted to say, however, that in consequence of recent changes a great many men of that very deserving class had been reduced to a state of destitution while awaiting the decision of the Government, and none had experienced more hardship, in that respect, than the officers of the Land Transport Corps. That corps was formed during the early part of the late war, when great difficulty was experienced in conveying provisions and materials from Balaklava to the army. He had perused the warrant by which the corps was formed, to ascertain whether it was considered a part of the regular army; according to his view he certainly thought that the officers had the same right to half-pay as other officers. That corps did its duty admirably and had merited the praise of Colonel M'Murdo who commanded it. No inducement was spared to get good volunteer officers, the non-commissioned officers of the army not being very willing to accept commissions, because they were afraid that they would not be able to support themselves properly in their new position. At the close of the war the Land Transport Corps was at first reduced in number; but the officers soon learnt with great surprise that the whole corps was about to be disbanded, or rather transformed into the corps known as the Military Train, and they also learnt with dismay that the officers in the Land Transport Corps would not hold the same rank in the Military Train. The commanders were reduced in number and made lieutenants, while the lieutenants in the Land Transport Corps were swept away altogether. He considered it very cruel that men having been induced by great promises to enter the corps, should, after the services they had rendered, be treated in such a manner: he was well acquainted with several individual cases of great hardship. At the same time he did not intend to cast any reflection upon the distinguished officer who was at the head of the army, and who had administered the patronage in the most praiseworthy manner; his only object being to inquire what was to be the course adopted towards those officers—whether they were to be put on half-pay, allowed to sell their commissions, or to be thrown aside and neglected altogether? He could assure the House that his only object was to do justice to those ill-used persons, and, therefore, he would conclude by putting the question of which he had given the formal notice—namely, whether it was intended to give the officers of the Land Transport Corps, whose services were no longer required, any half-pay or pension; and whether that half-pay would be on the same scale as that given to officers of corresponding rank in other branches of the service? To put himself in order he would move "That the House, at its rising, adjourn to Monday."

SIR WILLIAM CODRINGTON

said, he could confirm the remarks which had been made by the hon. and gallant Member for Ayrshire with regard to the good character and services of those non-commissioned officers who were taken indiscriminately from the Guards, the Line, the Artillery, and the Cavalry, and made officers in a corps which had been newly formed, and which was charged with the performance of very difficult duties. They had a great deal to do with horses, with harness, with carts, and with waggons; and, as they had the supervision of men placed in circumstances of great difficulty, it was necessary that they should be men of extremely good conduct. He should be very sorry to hear that these officers had been placed in a worse social and military position than they deserved.

SIR DE LACY EVANS

said, he desired to add his testimony in favour of the gallant officers whose case was under consideration, and he would give notice that he should call the attention of the House to the subject on the discussion of the Army Estimates.

MR. FREDERICK PEEL

said, it was quite true that, when the Land Transport Corps was formed, a great number of non-commissioned officers—some 120 or 130—were promoted from the Line and the Artillery, and he had always understood that they had rendered the country most excellent service. When the corps returned home from the Crimea it was disbanded and broken up, and the officers up to the present time had been receiving full pay. In place of the Land Transport Corps a Military Train had been formed, much reduced in number. It was, consequently, impossible that all the officers holding commissions in the Land Transport Corps should receive commissions in the Military Train; and the Commander in Chief, in making the appointments to that train, had had exclusive regard to the service in selecting those who had the most preferable claim. He understood that some twenty to twenty-five officers of the Land Transport Corps had received commissions in the Military Train. Hon. Members must understand that there was a considerable distinction between the Land Transport Corps and the Military Train. The commissions in the latter were on the same footing as commissions in the army; and he was not surprised that officers who had been suddenly elevated to a higher rank, in consequence of the rapidity with which the Land Transport Corps had been organized, were now holding positions somewhat inferior. With respect to those officers who had not completed the term of service to qualify them for a pension, it was necessary for them to resume their former grade and serve out their time. If half-pay had been given to them as officers, it would only have been a temporary allowance, because they had not completed their service of three years' duration. Under those circumstances, Government had resolved to deal with them in a special manner. An application had been made to the Treasury to authorize a scale of allowance to the officers, varying with the rank which they held in the Land Transport Corps. They were not entitled to the rate which would have been granted had they served for a long period; but they would receive a higher rate than they would have been paid in the ranks, and that was the scale which would be adopted.