§ * MR. BRAMSDON (Portsmouth)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether their Lordships will consider the advisability of discontinuing the future employment of retired lieutenants from the ranks and of retired commissioned warrant officers in the Royal Navy in dockyard and other Home billets, and, if necessary, of enlarging the number of active service officers of the ranks referred to, with a view to the employment in future as vacancies arise in connection with the positions named of active service officers only instead of retired officers.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. EDMUND ROBERTSON, Dundee)It is the practice of the Admiralty to appoint men in the active service to nearly all the dockyard and other home billets referred to in this Question. In certain appointments, however, it is considered desirable that the duration of tenure should be greater than the conditions of the service would permit were the holders on the active list. In such cases, therefore, retired officers, or officers nearing retirement, are appointed to these posts. With regard to the second part of the Question, no enlargement of the establishment would be necessary even if it were decided to confine all these appointments to active service officers, the numbers being already sufficient to allow of their employment in the positions referred to were it considered desirable.