§ SIR WILLIAM CROSSMAN (Portsmouth)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, If it is the case that Engineer officers of the Royal Navy under the 577 rank of Chief Engineer, when at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, although holding the same relative rank as Lieutenants and Sub-Lieutenants, are not allowed to mess with the Executive officers of that rank, but are placed in a mess by themselves; if so, why this distinction, which is considered by the Engineer officers as an invidious one, is made, and why the same Regulations as to messing could not be carried out at the Naval College as on board ship, the senior officers of the same relative rank, whether of the Executive or Civil branches, having one mess, and the junior officers of the same relative rank another?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The division of messes is convenient and has worked well. If, however, an Engineer officer of a higher grade than the Engineer students returns to the College, after service at sea, for a special course of study, it will be easy to arrange that he should have the option of joining whichever mess he may prefer.