HL Deb 28 July 1873 vol 217 cc1067-8

The Queen's Answer to the Address of Monday last reported by the Lord Steward, as follows, viz:

"MY LORDS,

"I have received your Address, praying that a Royal Commission may be issued to inquire into the allegations of the officers of my army as to the grievances which they state that they suffer consequent upon the abolition of Purchase:

"The terms of the pecuniary indemnity provided by the Army Regulation Act for the officers of the Army upon the abolition of the system of Purchase were adopted by Parliament upon a very full and long continued deliberation. I am advised that to refer for consideration to Commissioners nominated by the Crown any allegations of grievance which involve the principle of the pecuniary settlement so deliberately incorporated in the Act would be a course not warranted by usage, and that it would be likely to be attended with serious inconvenience:

"I have reason to believe that the provisions of the Act have been carried into effect in a liberal spirit by my government and by the Army Purchase Commissioners:

"I have also directed that certain cases which have appeared to fall within the principle of the Statute, though they were not formally included in its words, should be submitted in the annual votes to the favourable consideration of Parliament, by whom the votes for this purpose have been approved; and I will now direct that the allegations contained in the memorials which have formed the subject of your Address shall be carefully examined by a Royal Commission in order to ascertain whether any of them fall within the principle of and may properly be dealt with by the same form of proceeding."