§ LORD EUSTACE CECILsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether his attention has ever been called to the following paragraph, page 21, of the Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the system of Purchase in the Army, in which the following words occur:—
The price to be paid for Commissions was considered and reported upon by a Board of General Officers in the year 1821. It is, however, admitted that during a period of peace the regulations, although stringently worded with the addition of a severe penalty for the infraction, are yet habitually neglected, and the price paid, except in the purchase of the first Commission, almost invariably exceeds the price fixed by authority. An experienced Army Agent has stated that in the Cavalry any sum under double the regulation price may be considered very reasonable. In former years a declaration was required from Officers that they had not given more than the regulation price, but this was evaded, and, therefore, discontinued. The practice therefore of paying sums exceeding the regulation price must be considered to be an accompaniment of the purchase system, which it appears impossible to prevent;whether, with that Report in existence, the authorities at the War Office or at the Horse Guards can, in his opinion, be said to have been or to be officially ignorant of the fact that Officers in all the Purchase Corps of the Army have been in the habit of paying over regulation money for their promotion; and, whether it is not true that Circulars have been lately sent round to Officers commanding Cavalry Regiments requesting them to send back a return of the amount of money they have paid for their Commissions over the regulation price?
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, I am quite aware of the large pecuniary interest involved in the general question of the over-regulation prices, and in making the present proposal with respect to 1624 subaltern officers I had no intention of raising that general question. Everybody knows that over-regulation prices are given; but in consequence, I presume, of the stringent provisions of the Act of Parliament, even the agents disclaim official knowledge upon the subject. The experienced agent to whom reference has been made, Mr. Hammersly, in answer to Question 930, stated that his knowledge was entirely derived from private and confidential communications, and that they did not officially know anything but the regulation price. His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief has repeatedly given the same answer, and in my reply to the noble Lord I made the same distinction. As to the circular, I have never issued any such document, and nothing is known of it either at the War Office or Horse Guards.
§ MAJOR ANSONsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, If it is true that the War Office has received in the last eight years a sum of half a million sterling from the purchase Officers; if the whole of that money has been applied to their benefit, and, if not, to what purposes it has been applied; and, whether it is true that notice has been given to half-pay Officers that they cannot be allowed to sell, as there are no funds to meet the cost of their Commissions?
§ MR. CARDWELLThe receipts, Sir, of the Reserve Fund in the last eight years have been over £700,000. They have been applied to the purposes stated, in the accounts annually laid before Parliament, and described in the Report of the Committee of which the First Lord of the Admiralty was a member. They were not always exclusively for the benefit of the purchase officers. The fund was last year, for the first time, submitted to the control of Parliament. In 1861 a regulation was made, by which, when the state of the fund would permit, half-pay commissions were to be purchased. The recent, reductions in the Army have caused the fund to diminish, so that the power of purchasing half-pay commissions has for the present ceased. The regulation expressly says—
As the funds at the disposal of the Secretary of State are limited, when the funds are expended no further sales will be allowed.