§ MR. LAYARDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty why, notwithstanding an Order in Council, only one master had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the navy, and not one to the rank of commander, out of 109 masters and second masters mentioned in despatches for special and distinguished services during the late war?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, that the hon. Gentleman was mistaken if he supposed that every master who was mentioned in despatches had necessarily performed very distinguished services. Nine-tenths of those mentioned were the names of persons who had been engaged in some particular service; but it was not to be supposed that anything extraordinary had been performed by themselves. They were not, therefore, entitled to promotion to the rank of commander, which was reserved for those who had performed extraordinary services. He had no doubt the masters performed their duty, and some of them had been rewarded by getting situations in the various dockyards.
§ SIR CHARLES NAPIERsaid, that he should not be doing his duty if he did not say a word on behalf of the masters of the Royal Navy. They were a most meritorious and useful class of officers, and he was sure he did not know what he should have done without them in the Baltic. He 1928 trusted that the Government would take their claims into their most favourable consideration.