§ MR. MARKHAM (Nottinghamshire, Mansfield)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the total pay of a second lieutenant in t his country is 5s. 3d. per day; and whether, seeing that it is impossible for an officer of this rank to live on his pay without assistance, after paying his soldier servant, providing clothes for this servant, subscriptions, messing, and washing, can he say the lowest sum on which an officer is expected to be able to live in the Army; and, whether, in the reorganisation of the Army, he will raise the pay sufficiently to enable the 32 sons of rich or poor men an equal opportunity of entering the Army.
§ * THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. BROMLEY DAVENPORT,) Cheshire, MacclesfieldThe pay of a second lieutenant of infantry is 5s. 3d. a day without allowances. It was estimated by the Committee on Officers' Expenses, whose Report was published in 1903, that by the adoption of their recommendations, an infantry subaltern's pay would cover the cost of the necessities of military service, but that he would require about £60 a year from private sources to meet the expenses of ordinary life, such as plain clothes, tobacco, stimulants, etc. In the junior ranks of the Army, as in most other professions, it is not expected that it will be possible for officers to live entirely on their pay, though steps have recently been taken to reduce the expenses. It is not, therefore, proposed to make any increase in the pay of these officers.
MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)Is the hon. Gentleman not aware that naval lieutenants are expected to, and do, in fact, live on their pay?