COLONEL LONG (Worcestershire, Evesham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether second lieutenants in the Royal Engineers are being promoted on much shorter service than second lieutenants in the infantry; and whether he can do anything to equalise the promotion in the two services.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERThe average rate of promotion of second lieutenants in the Royal Engineers for the year 1904 was only two months more rapid than that in regiments of Infantry of the Line, which was two years nine and a-half months. The normal rate in the Royal Engineers is three years, but his was reduced to two years seven and three-quarter months in 1904 by the fact that the reduction of service for promotion to captain from eleven to 1371 nine years caused vacancies in the lieutenants' ranks. This acceleration is merely temporary.