MR. CORRYsaid, he would now beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is true that it is the intention of the first Lord of the Admiralty to consider such Officers as are qualified by 30 age for optional retirement to be ineligible for appointments?
§ MR. BAXTERIn answer, Sir, to the right hon. Gentleman, I beg to say that, in consequence of the redundant state of the lists preventing a large number of eligible officers from obtaining employment in certain ranks, age has always been one of the considerations in selecting officers for appointments, and that there are, and always have been, manifest objections to giving employment to those who must soon after retire from the service, the country losing the benefit of their experience. Under the present system, however, the retirement is so much more liberal that full weight can be given to this consideration; but my right hon. Friend (Mr. Childers), while acting on this principle, has no intention to make any fixed regulation precluding officers who might retire from ago from being employed.