HC Deb 16 March 1871 vol 205 c56
COLONEL WHITE

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the appointments of "Military Attaché" at Berlin, Petersburg, and Vienna are five years' appointments or whether they are for an indefinite period, as that at Paris has recently been declared to be; what are the total emoluments of the former appointments, as compared to those of the Paris Military Attaché, received from both War and Foreign Office; and, whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to recommend the Military Authorities to give the local and temporary rank of "Major General," recently conferred on the Berlin and Paris Military Attachés, to the former's senior officer, now holding a similar appointment at Petersburg?

VISCOUNT ENFIELD

Sir, the appointments of military attaché at Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Berlin are held for five years, and may, in fact, be looked upon as Staff appointments. The total emoluments of the military attachés in those three cities are £500 a-year, with £100 in the shape of lodging allowance, which is charged in the Army Estimates. It is not the intention of the Government to confer the local rank of major-general on the military attaché at St. Petersburg, that rank having been conferred on Colonel Walker and Colonel Claremont because the French and German Armies were in the field. The military attaché at Paris receives £500 a-year, which is charged in the Diplomatic Estimates, and he also receives his half-pay as major, which is included in the Army Estimates, and any extra expense he incurs in Paris is paid out of the funds in the hands of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.