§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Secretary of State for War, Is it a fact that the Officers called Quartermasters in the Commissariat and Ordnance Departments perform precisely similar duties to the other Officers in these Departments, but that they are ineligible for promotion to higher rank; and, are Quartermasters appointed to different duties after forty years of age; and, if not, is there any other class of Officers in Her Majesty's Service, who, while serving and performing similar duties to their brother Officers, are debarred from promotion for the last fifteen years of their service?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN)&c.) (Stirling,The hon. Member's Question is of an argumentative character, and will hardly admit of a reply in the ordinary compass allotted to an answer. I may, however, say that there is a difference in the responsibility thrown upon these quartermasters and on other departmental officers. The cases of these quartermasters and of other departmental officers do not admit of comparison. The former are usually appointed when no longer young, and the rank and pay given them are in great measure regarded as rewards for past service. Their age and other circumstances would, in many cases, unfit them for further advancement to posts for which younger officers are required.