MR. GEORGE RUSSELLasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he has considered the case of the Lieutenant Colonels of the Ordnance Corps who will be placed on half-pay on the 1st October next, and whether he proposes to take further steps to retire the pre-warrant Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels of those Corps, so that the half-pay Lieutenant Colonels junior to them may be employed, instead of being compelled to retire from the Army; and, if it is not the case that the actuarial calculations prove such future steps would produce an economy in pensions, and that the efficiency of the Service will be increased by the retirement of the seniors instead of the juniors?
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, in reply to my hon. Friend, I have to state that this case has been under my consideration for nearly two years. Lord Morley's Committee on Promotion and Employment in the Royal Artillery and Engineers specially dealt with it, the result being that a large number of colonels and lieutenant colonels promoted before October, 1877, have been retired; but I do not think that I could offer better terms to those who remain (that is to say, three colonels holding ordinary district commands, and 15 lieutenant colonels) than the terms offered in the recent Warrant, of which they did not avail themselves. The last words of my hon. Friend's first Question implied that an officer is compelled to retire from the Army when unemployed. This is not so, those officers having the option of going to half-pay for five years with the chances of re-employment. In reply to the second Question, I can only say that I am not satisfied that economy would be the result of any feasible plan extending the retirement of lieutenant colonels of Engineers. Such an extension would have to be very large if any additional boon were to result to their juniors.