§ CAPTAIN PIMasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether, as Hobart Pasha is a retired officer of the Navy, and cannot again be employed, and as retired pay has been earned for past services in the Navy, and cannot be legally withheld from any naval or marine officer when once placed on the retired list, even if in the service of a foreign government, as laid down by the law officers of the late Government, Sir John Coleridge and Sir George Jessell, he will be good enough to inform the House by what right or power Hobart Pasha, or any other officer, being no longer subject to the Naval Discipline Act, call be interfered with by the Admiralty; and, whether he has any objection to lay on the Table of the House the copy of such opinion, as well as the letter sent by the Admiralty to the Accountant General of the Navy, dated 13th of February, 1873, in continuation of the Parliamentary Paper of the 17th of March, 1876—"Navy officers holding civil appointments?”
§ MR. A. F. EGERTONIn the unavoidable absence of my right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Admiralty, perhaps the hon. Member will allow me to answer this Question. I have first to say that, in my opinion, the Question is somewhat irregular, being of an argu- 108 mentative nature; but without entering into any argument upon it, it is sufficient to state that the Admiralty can recall into active service in case of war or emergency any officer on the retired or half-pay list, and has also power to remove from the list of the Royal Navy any officer whatever, whether on full, half-pay, or the retired list, and this without reason assigned. The opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown to which the hon. Member refers is immaterial to the question, and it could not, without breaking an invariable Rule, be laid on the Table of the House.