§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether Her Majesty's Government have made or propose to make any improvement in the position of Warrant Officers in Her Majesty's Navy, especially with regard to the" "Other Ships" Clause? He also asked whether the Admiralty will consider the expediency of improving the position of the Petty Officers in Her Majesty's Navy, with the view of placing them on the same footing with regard to pay and pension as Non-Commissioned Officers in Her Majesty's Land Forces?
§ MR. TREVELYANlean assure my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth that the Board of Admiralty has carefully considered the position of Warrant Officers with reference to the "Other Ships" Clause, and the arrangements we have made will be explained in the Estimates. With regard to Petty Officers of Her Majesty's Navy, the hon. Member would prove a very bad friend to the Petty Officers if we adopted his suggestion, for, so far from being in a worse, they are in a better position as regards pay and pension than the Non-Commissioned Officers of the Army. The chief Petty Officer does not rank with the Sergeant Major in the Army, who is a Warrant Officer, and who ranks with Warrant Officers in the Navy. Taking pay and victualling together the chief Petty Officer in the Navy gets, on an average, decidedly higher remuneration than the Colour Sergeant. The first-class Petty Officer is in an even better 236 position, as compared with an ordinary Sergeant, and the second-class Petty Officer as compared with a Corporal. In respect of their pensions, they may roughly be said to be about as well off as the corresponding rank in the Army. But the bon. Member has omitted to refer to a consideration which is the most important of all, and that is that, to speak very moderately indeed, a seaman's chances of obtaining Petty Officer's rank are at least 100 per cent better than the chances of a marine or a soldier to obtain the rank of a Non-Commissioned Officer.