§ CAPTAIN PIMsaid, he did not see any credit given for the deduction of 1s. a day made from the wages of the Coastguard during the time they were ordered to serve afloat.
§ MR. A. F. EGERTONsaid, the amount was deducted in the total charged, and he did not see that any advantage would be gained by dividing the item in that part of the Votes.
§ CAPTAIN PIMconsidered it a hard case that these men who were the best afloat, should be deprived of Is. a-day. The item would be a considerable one, seeing that the number of men mentioned in the Vote was 4,150.
§ MR. A. F. EGERTONhad never known of any complaint being made on account of this deduction from the wages of the Coastguard men, by whom it was thoroughly understood.
§ CAPTAIN PIMwas not impugning the justice of the Admiralty in making the deduction in question. He merely wished to draw attention to the fact that the amount of the stoppage was not mentioned in the Votes.
§ MR. W. H. SMITHsaid, the Coastguard men had always been liable for this stoppage from their pay, and the Estimates, as the hon. Member for Gravesend must know, were upon precisely the same footing as formerly.
§ CAPTAIN PIMthought that the Estimates were framed in such a manner as rendered them very difficult to be understood, and that the sooner they were altered the better.
§ Motion, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," agreed to.