MR. GORSTasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the position of the remaining navigating officers of the Royal Navy is at present much inferior to that of the officers of the Executive List, by whom they are being gradually superseded; and, what steps the Admiralty propose to take by means of any scheme of retirement or otherwise to raise the position of the navigating officers to an equality with that of other officers performing identical duties in the service?
§ MR. TREVELYANI can only answer my hon. and learned Friend that the rank of navigating officers of the Royal Navy, relatively to that of the executive officers, is exactly what it always has been. The transfer of sub-lieutenants from the navigating to the executive lists has brought this difference in rank into prominence, and the Admiralty are considering this very difficult and complicated question.