§ LORD EUSTACE CECILsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether, during the recent cruize of the Fleet in the Channel, it was true that certain Coastguardsmen, in the full enjoyment of health, and in the prime of life, are about to be discharged on pension, by direction of the Admiralty, because their back teeth are too far gone to masticate ship's biscuit; and whether, if this statement be correct, the Admiralty think that the pensioning off of able-bodied men, in the prime of life, 454 simply for the loss of their back teeth, is the best way of making Her Majesty's Service attractive to our seafaring population?
§ MR. CHILDERSsaid, in reply to the noble Lord's inquiry, he had to say that, during the recent cruize of the Reserve Squadron, no coastguardsmen were ordered to be discharged, either from deficiency of back teeth or for any other reason, What he imagined the noble Lord alluded to was this. By the rules of the service, every coastguardsman, unable to serve efficiently at sea, was liable to be discharged; and, considering that the force was our principal reserve, this rule should be strictly enforced. On the occasion of the recent cruize, it was ascertained that some hundreds of coastguardsmen were probably unfit for sea service, and it was ordered that all above a certain age should be surveyed during this summer. One of the conditions for entering the service was that a man should not have lost "so many teeth as would materially interfere with mastication;" and as sailors had to eat hard ship biscuit, he was not prepared, as at present advised, to repeal this regulation. But he found only one case, in which the medical officers recommended that a coastguards man should be discharged solely on this ground; and in that case the recommendation was sent back for re-consideration. In several cases, men had been pronounced "unfit for active service at sea, in consequence of injuries or diseases, coupled with loss of teeth," but not for loss of teeth only. In reply to the second part of the noble Lord's Question, he had to say that the naval service was most popular at the present time, in consequence of the high rate of pay and allowances, and especially the recent great increase in pensions; and he was not prepared to diminish its efficiency by refraining from giving those pensions to men pronounced unfit for service.