§ VISCOUNT WOLMER (Edinburgh, W.)I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office will he explain why it is that warrant officers in the Army are not eligible for the good conduct medal, although they may and do wear it if they have already obtained it before they have been promoted to that rank; whether he is aware that this distinction is very much prized by all those to whom it has been awarded; and whether it would be possible to advise Her Majesty to modify the Royal Warrant under which it is granted so that warrant officers, otherwise qualified for it, may no longer be precluded from obtaining it?
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN,&c.) Stirling,A warrant officer needs no more than the uniform of his rank to testify that he has been selected for a promotion, towards which a record of continuous good conduct is known to be an essential factor. It is thought desirable to raise the status of warrant officers by regarding them as more akin to commissioned than to non-commissioned officers; and to subject them to the tests applicable to lower ranks, as regards good conduct rewards, would, it is considered, weaken this idea.
§ VISCOUNT WOLMERIs the matter quite so simple as the right lion. Gentleman suggests? Is it not the case that a man might become the recipient, of a medal and be appointed a warrant officer the next day, and another man become entitled to the medal the day after he was raised to the rank of a warrant officer? And would not the former be allowed to wear the medal, while the latter would be unable to?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANExtreme cases such as that always may occur when it becomes a question of a day, but the general principle I have laid down seems to be a good and sensible one, and I should not be disposed to depart from it.