COLONEL NORTHsaid, he rose to move, That this House will, To-morrow, resolve itself into a Committee to consider of an humble Address, to be presented to Her Majesty, praying that She will be graciously pleased to give directions that the same command pay shall be granted to Officers commanding regiments of Cavalry as is now given to Officers commanding regiments of Infantry. The hon. and gallant Member said, that his reason for moving his Amendment was, that ever since 1806 every officer commanding an Infantry regiment or the Horse Artillery had received the allowance, while it was not paid to the Cavalry; and he appealed 1754 to the Secretary of War to do justice in the matter. The amount in question was only £500 a year; but this had nothing to do with the justice of the case.
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Amendment proposed,
To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "this House will, To-morrow, resolve itself into a Committee to consider of an humble Address to be presented to Her Majesty, praying that She will be graciously pleased to give directions that the same command pay shall be granted to Officer's commanding regiments of Cavalry as is now given to Officers commanding regiments of Infantry,
—instead thereof.
§ Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
SIR GEORGE LEWISobserved, that the hon. and gallant Member had shown his good sense and judgment in making a very short speech on a subject which, in fact, lay in a very narrow compass, and he should imitate his example of brevity. The sum which was at issue was about £920 per annum. The pay of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry amounted to 17s. per diem, and 3s. command money—making together 20s. a day. A lieutenant-colonel of cavalry had 23s. per diem; he had no command money, but was subject to some deductions—the stoppage of 8½d. for the keep of four horses, making 2s. 10d.; so that the exact amount received was 20s. 2d. per diem. The only difference, therefore, between the daily pay of the lieutenant-colonel of infantry and the lieutenant-colonel of cavalry was the sum of 2d. He admitted that there were certain expenses which lieutenant-colonels of cavalry were subject to which lieutenant-colonels of infantry were not, and he was not, therefore, altogether prepared to justify the equity of withholding from the lieutenant-colonels of cavalry the difference. The Estimates had passed for this year, and it was not worth while to bring up a supplementary Estimate. What he proposed was this:—He would undertake to consider the question during the present year; and unless the opinion he had expressed underwent a change, he should, if he had again the honour of moving the Army Estimates, undertake to propose that the change suggested by the hon. and gallant Member should be made.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.