§ MAJOR ARBUTHNOTasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the sums annually voted to secure retirement and promotion in the Non-purchase Corps, and the amount of promotion thus obtained, do or do not afford a sufficient basis upon which to form an approximate estimate as to the cost which the Country will have to bear, after the abolition of purchase, in order to secure such a flow of promotion as is indispensable to efficiency; and, if not, whether the reason is that the sums voted for the Non-purchase Corps have been found wholly inadequate to secure an amount of promotion at all equal to that which was obtained in Purchase Regiments?
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, this is a question inviting an expression of opinion, not a statement of some fact of which the questioner is ignorant. The general opinion, I believe, and certainly my own, is that it will not be safe to argue from the scientific corps to the probable current of promotion in Line regiments.