HC Deb 28 February 1887 vol 311 cc690-1
MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)

asked the Secretary of State for War, What will regulate the status of Army Medical Officers on board ship or for choice of quarters, their relative rank having been abolished?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)

I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend that relative rank was neither actual nor titular rank, but only a classification for precedence, allowances, and widows' pensions. As relative rank served no useful purpose, it has been abolished; but the classification which it represented remains and still regulates all such matters as those referred to in the Question?