§ MR. STACPOOLEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether his attention has been called to a statement prepared by Mr. Sprague, Vice President of the Society of Actuaries, showing that, under the present rules of promotion, Officers in the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers will in a few years have no chance of obtaining the rank of Second Captain till they are forty years of age; and, whether he is prepared to bring forward any measure for rectifying so unsatisfactory a state of affairs?
§ MR. CARDWELLI stated, Sir, the other night that I had had a great deal of discussion with my right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the First Lord of the Admiralty on the subject of retirement; that it was a much more complicated question in respect of the Artillery and Engineers than of the Marines; and that a further financial inquiry is in progress under my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Truro (Captain Vivian).