§ COLONEL MAKINSasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether he is aware that the seven senior Captains of the Royal Marine Artillery have twenty-three years' service; whether it is the rule that officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers obtain brevet promotion after twenty years' service; whether such a condition of promotion does not involve supersession of Royal Marine Officers in the Army by their juniors; and, why such a difference in regard to promotion should be maintained between the different branches of Her Majesty's Ordnance Service?
§ MR. CAMPBELL - BANNERMANSir, the hon. and gallant Member also puts to me in a detailed form a Question which is practically the same as that which I answered on Tuesday last regarding the state of promotion in the Corps of Royal Marines. I regret that, owing to the recent pressure of business in the two Departments, the settlement of the question has been somewhat delayed; but we are now on the point of arriving at a decision, which will, I trust, remove the disadvantage to which certain officers of the Royal Marine Artillery are at present subject.