§ MR. LEAKEasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the men of the Royal Engineers who were engaged in the Zulu War have been refused working pay in addition to their Regimental pay, and whether they do not receive such pay when peacefully employed on works at home; whether they have been refused a gratuity for service in the field to which, according to precedents, they would seem to have been entitled; whether time-sheets or checks of the time during which the men were engaged on active operations in the field were not kept by their commanding officers and forwarded to head-quarters; and, if so, if he could state the purpose for which they were so kept and forwarded; and, whether the officers of the Royal Engineers who were engaged in the Zulu War have received working pay and a gratuity for service in the field in addition to their Regimental pay; and, if so, if he could explain why rewards granted to the officers should be withheld from the men?
§ MR. CHILDERSThe men of the Royal Engineers engaged in the Zulu War did not receive working pay, which is only given to soldiers, whether of the Royal Engineers or of other arms, when employed upon permanent military works; or when performing services for the various Army Departments. It is not given to them on ordinary military duty including the ordinary services required of them during a campaign. This has always been the rule in the Army. Neither officers nor men become entitled to any gratuity for service in the field in the Zulu War; unless, indeed, allusion is made to an allowance of £1 which has been made to each soldier on account of damage to clothing. I have no knowledge of the time sheets to which my hon. Friend's third Ques- 764 tion refers. If they exist, it is a matter of internal arrangement of which the War Office has no information. The officers of Royal Engineers received the extra pay to which they have always been entitled under the Warrant when employed on the duties of their corps, but no gratuity or working pay. In fact, the payments to officers and men of the Royal Engineers during the Zulu War—except the allowance of £1 to the men—have been those uniformly allowed for many years.