§ MAJOR O'BEIRNEasked the Secretary of State for War, If the officers on the Horse Guards' Staff are exempt from the rule limiting the tenure of a staff appointment to a period of five years; and, if not exempt from this rule, to explain why the officers at present holding the appointments of Adjutant General to the Forces, Deputy Adjutant General to the Forces, and Deputy Adjutant General of Auxiliary Forces, have been kept on the Staff of the Horse Guards since July, 1873; and, further, to state what period of time must elapse between the completion of five years' service on the staff and the 771 re-appointment of the same officer for another period of five years on the staff of the Army?
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, I have to state that officers on the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief are not exempt from the rule limiting the tenure of a Staff appointment to five years, although this rule does not apply to his purely personal Staff, such as his Private Secretary and aides-de-camp. I cannot, however, find that there is any rule preventing an officer from receiving two Staff appointments in succession. As a matter of fact, only one of the three officers named by the hon. and gallant Member has been continuously employed for more than five years—namely, the Deputy Adjutant General of the Forces, who was promoted to that appointment from that of Assistant Military Secretary. The Adjutant General had been Quartermaster General, with a short interval between the two appointments; and the Deputy Adjutant General for Auxiliary Forces has only been appointed this year, having held no previous appointment at head-quarters. The question has not come and will not for some time come before me, as the only appointment at head-quarters likely to be soon vacant is that of Quartermaster General of the Forces, vacant on the 1st of July, which my Predecessor had filled up by anticipation in a way of which I entirely approve.
§ MAJOR O'BEIRNEgave Notice that, in consequence of the unsatisfactory nature of the answer given by the right hon. Gentleman, he would take the earliest opportunity of calling attention to his reply.