§ COLONEL O'BEIRNEasked the Secretary of State for War, To state by what rule of the Service Brevet Majors in the Army drawing brevet pay, under authority of Royal Warrant of the 15th June 1806, and, being appointed Adjutants of the Auxiliary Forces from 1871 to 1877 inclusive, were deprived of such brevet pay, and which was continued to brevet majors holding other staff appointments; and, by what rule or warrant were such Brevet Majors deprived of arrears of pay due to them from date of their respective appointments as Adjutants, under the authority of paragraph 451 of the Royal Warrant of 1880, in view of the fact that the Royal Warrant of 1877 did not forbid such retrospective grant?
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, in reply to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Leitrim (Colonel O'Beirne), I have to state that up to 1875 the pay of an Adjutant of Auxiliary Forces was 10s. a-day, whatever his rank might be. In that year, however, it was raised to a rate equal to that of a captain in the arm of the Service to which the officer belonged, and in 1877 a special Warrant granted to those officers who had brevet rank, brevet pay from that time. If my hon. and gallant Friend claims for these officers a vested interest in what they were entitled to receive before the Warrant of 1875, their pay would be decreased instead of increased, as, whether majors or not, they would only receive 10s. a-day. As to the last part of the Question, the Warrant of 1877 expressly provided that the additional pay should commence from the 1st of April of last year.