§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War will he explain the grounds on which the non-commissioned officers on the permanent Militia Staffs are divided into two classes, one being the men on Army engagements, and the other the men on Militia engagements; also why the pay of a sergeant on an Army engagement is 3s. 6½d. per day, and the pay of a sergeant on a Militia engagement 2s. 4d. per day; and why a sergeant on an Army engagement after 21 years' service is entitled to a pension of 2s. 3d. per day, in addition to £63 deferred pay, while a sergeant on a Militia engagement after 27 years' service is only entitled to a maximum pension of 1s. per day; what is the number of non-commissioned officers serving in Ireland on the permanent Militia Staffs on 595 Militia engagements; and whether, as the duties of these non-commissioned officers serving on Militia engagements are the same as those of non-commissioned officers serving on Army engagements, he will be prepared to recommend that the pay and allowances of the former class be put on an equality with the latter?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThese Militia sergeants on the Permanent Staff are the remanant of an old class which is rapidly disappearing. None have been appointed since 1881, and there are not more than 300 or 400 left out of a total of over 4,000. There are no reasons for putting them on the same footing us non-commissioned officers appointed direct from the Army who are members of the depot, and have Army as well as Militia duties. There are 70 non-commissioned officers serving on the permanent Staff of the Irish Militia on their Militia engagement. Their period of service will very shortly expire.