§ MR. WYLDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, If any consideration has been given to the grievances of the Senior Staff Officers of Pensioners, to which his attention was called, during the last Session of Parliament— namely, that the Memorandum, dated 1923 War Office 15th March 1842, promised that their situations should be considered as "Full Pay" appointments; but some time after they accepted these situations on the faith of this promise a regulation was made that the holders of them should have the inadequate step of Brevet Major, with the addition only of two shillings per day to their pay, and that this limitation of advancement and the limitation of their retiring allowances inflicts a serious injury upon the Senior Staff Officers of Pensioners, many of whom left their regiments, and some of them paid back the regulated difference between half and full pay to hold these appointments; and whether he is disposed to consider the "Full Pay" appointment of the Senior Staff Officer of Pensioners as entitling them to a gradual increase of rank, pay, and retiring allowance?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, in reply, that he could not think the Senior Staff Officers of Pensioners had any cause of complaint, seeing that considerable advantages in the way of promotion had been extended to them. The best answer he could give to the hon. Member was to state that almost every day he was receiving applications for appointments on the Pensioners' Staff, which were greatly coveted by military men. On the other hand, however, in consequence of the arrangements now in progress with respect to the Army of Reserve, their labours had greatly increased, and he would take into consideration how far those additional labours entitled them to extra pay.