§ MR. O'REILLYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether Medical Officers who have volunteered for service on the West Coast of Africa before 1st April, 1867, preserve the advantage guaranteed to them by the "Medical Regulations of 1860," under 1291 which they volunteered—namely, "every such year of service on the Coast to count as two years for promotion and retirement;" and, whether only such Officers as have volunteered, or may volunteer subsequent to the promulgation of the Warrant of 1867, come under the restrictions that "each year of such service shall be allowed to reckon towards promotion and retirement as two years of ordinary service, but it shall not so reckon towards increased pay or qualification for the rank of Surgeon Major?"
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, in reply, that medical officers who had volunteered for service on the West Coast of Africa before the 1st of April, 1867, would preserve the advantage guaranteed to them by the Medical Regulations of 1860, under which they volunteered—namely, "every year of service on the coast to count as two years for promotion and retirement." All medical officers who volunteered to go to Africa came under the restrictions that "each year of such service shall be allowed to reckon towards promotion and retirement as two years of ordinary service, but it shall not so reckon towards increased pay or qualification for the rank of Surgeon Major."