§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he can state in brief, or will lay before the House, the existing terms on which officers of the Army, not compulsorily retired on account of age, are allowed voluntarily to retire with a money bonus or pension for life; what is the amount of such bonus or pension; and whether the liability of officers so retired to serve when required, extends to service with the Militia or other Forces of the Crown, or only with the Regular Army?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. E. STANHOPE, Lincolnshire, Horncastle)When voluntary retirement is permitted, a combatant officer of 15 years' service and upwards may retire on £120 a year if below the rank of lieutenant colonel, or on £250 if he has been three years in that rank. After 25 years' service, a major may retire on £200 a year; after 27 years, a lieutenant colonel can retire on £300 a year, and after 30 years' service, on £365. A lieutenant colonel or colonel, after completing his term of service in that rank, may retire on £420 or £450 a year, according to the arm of the Service in which he has served. A general officer may retire at any time on the retired pay of the next lower grade, and a major general may retire at 60 years of age on £680 a year; a lieutenant general at the age of 65 on £830; and a general at the same age on £980 a year. A captain or lieutenant up to the age of 50 years, a field officer up to 55 years, and a 970 general officer up to 67 years of age, is liable in a time of emergency to be recalled to service in the Regular or Auxiliary Forces.