§ CAPTAIN D. O'CONNELLsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether he is aware that since the reduction in the price of Commissions in the Cavalry the amount paid over Regulation has increased; and if it be the intention of Her Majesty's Government to enforce the Act of George the Third, which makes it illegal to give or receive any amount in excess of the Regulation price for Commissions in the Army?
§ MR. SIDNEY HERBERTreplied that he was not aware that since the reduction in the price of Cavalry Commissions the amount paid in excess of the Regulation had increased. There had been, perhaps, an increase in particular cases, but there had been a diminution in others, and he thought that it would require longer experience of the reduced rate before it could be decided whether it had had the effect of increasing or diminishing the price of Commissions. As to the second question, he thought the Government were bound to reduce, by all means in their power, the extravagant prices which were given for Commissions; but he was not at all certain that the Act of George the Third provided them with the most effectual weapon for the purpose. He believed that in questions of money, and of the value to be got for money, the provisions of an Act of Parliament were rarely, if ever, sufficiently stringent and comprehensive enough to prevent evasion.