§ MR. STUART-WORTLEYasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether it is true that an Admiralty Memorandum of May 1882 greatly restricted the then-existing discretion of that Department to dispense with the rule of compulsory retirement at sixty years of age of all ranks with forty years of service; whether the effect of such Memorandum is to increase the non-effective charge for the Admiralty staff, and to lose to the Country the services of officials of valuable experience and faculties as yet unimpaired by age; and, whether this Memorandum has received the consent either of Parliament or the Treasury?
§ MR. HIBBERTMy hon. and learned Friend has been misinformed as to the effect of the Memorandum to which he refers. So far from restricting, it enlarged the discretion of the Admiralty in dispensing with compulsory retirement at the regular age and service; and it therefore tends to diminish, not to increase, the non-effective charge. The provisions of the Memorandum do not require the consent of Parliament or the Treasury, being within the competence of the heads of a Department.