§ MR. BIGGARasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is a fact that assistant paymasters, Royal Navy, have now fifteen years seniority and are thirty-six years of ago before being promoted to the rank of paymaster; whether, when these gentlemen joined the Navy, promotion to paymaster was gained after nine years seniority; if these officers, whatever their seniority, are inferior in rank and position to the junior Lieutenant in the Navy; and, what steps, if any, the Admiralty pro- 1360 pose taking to ameliorate their pay and position?
§ MR. TREVELYANIt is quite true that the senior Assistant Paymasters of the Royal Navy reached that rank in 1866, and that their age is, on the average, that stated in the Question; and it is true that between 1866 and 1868 promotion to Paymaster was gained after nine years in the lower rank. It was in consequence of this slowness of promotion that, in 1877, the pay of Assistant Paymasters was raised very considerably in the later periods of their service; so that the senior among them rise to 12s. 6d. a-day, instead of 10s., an increase of £45 a-year. Meanwhile, the prospects of the whole class have been much improved by the great amelioration in the position of retired Paymasters. In 1861 the average retired pay of a Paymaster was £150 per annum. In 1881 it is £313. All Assistant Paymasters rank after Lieutenants. A Paymaster of 15 years' service ranks after a Commander. Assistant Paymasters have the option of going into the ward-room quite early in their career. There are only two ways of quickening promotion. One is by increasing the higher ranks; but in this case, out of 200 Paymasters, we have 30 still unemployed; and the Admiralty certainly could not consent—and I hope that the House would not permit them—to increase the number of officers above what is required by the Service in order to give promotion to those below them. The other method is for a Government, by stinting itself in patronage, to diminish the number of first entries. In 1865 and 1866, 51 and 45 youths were respectively entered in this line of Service, and the lists were hopelessly clogged in consequence, just as was the case during the same years with the executive lists of the Navy. But between 1869 and 1874 the entries were reduced to an average of five a-year. They then rose again to an average of nearly 30; but this year only 10 youths were entered, and that policy will continue to be pursued until the rate of promotion is again healthy and rapid.