§ MR. SAMPSON LLOYDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the hope held out by him (that the position of officers in the Royal Marines would be assimilated to that of officers in the Army when the Army Retirement Scheme came out) is likely to be realised, so that Royal Marine officers who joined prior to 1st April 1870 may be permitted to retire on gratuities after twelve, fifteen, eighteen, or twenty years' service, as is the case with officers in the Army?
§ MR. W. H. SMITH, in reply, said, he could not admit that the inference which might be drawn from the Question of his hon. Friend was a fair one—that the retirement scheme of the Royal Marines was not as favourable to the 525 Marines as the retirement scheme of the Army was to the Army. His own belief was that it was more favourable. Officers of Marines who joined before 1870 had certain advantages in terms of retirement, and it was considered that it would not be fair to deprive them of those advantages. It would not be consistent, however, that they should also reap the advantages of the 12, 15, 18, and 20 years' retirement, as well as the old advantages which had been preserved to them.