§ MR. WILLIAM ALLANI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he will explain why assistant paymasters in His Majesty's Navy are promoted to paymasters at thirty-one years of age, while engineers are not promoted to chiefs until thirty-eight years of age: and if he can state why the engineering branch of the Navy is thus treated in the matter of promotion.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERPromotions are made in each branch of the service according to the circumstances and necessities of that branch. The average age at which assistant paymasters are promoted to be paymasters at the present time is thirty-one years and four months. The average age at which engineers are promoted to chief engineers is thirty-six years and three months at the present time. It is necessary to observe that a chief engineer ranks with a staff' paymaster, and that the average age at which the rank of staff paymaster is reached is thirty-seven years and three months, or one year later than the average 931 age at which, under present circumstances, chief engineers receive their appointment.