§ SIR HENRY TYLER (Great Yarmouth)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the Royal Warrant issued 1st January, 1887, has made an alteration of great importance to officers holding the rank of Major in Her Majesty's Service, who were promoted before the 1st January, 1887; whether it is the case that the pension of £300 a-year previously granted cannot now be obtained until the age of 48 has been 522 reached; and, whether the previous Warrant will be taken to apply to those who were promoted under it, especially as a considerable proportion of those now holding the rank of Major purchased their first Commissions, and can no longer expect to receive compensation for the money which they have so advanced?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)It was not intended that the Royal Warrant of January 1, 1887, should diminish in any way the privileges as to retirement enjoyed by pro-warrant Majors; but, by a clerical error, in removing the obligation to retire after seven years' service in the rank, the right to retire at that period was taken away also. The mistake was at once discovered, and Her Majesty has signed a Warrant rectifying it. The Article will be corrected in its next issue.