§ MR. BELLAIRSTo ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that a memorandum, issued some years ago, stated that lieutenants, after passing a preliminary examination in signals and going through a course at the signal school, would, when subsequently acting as signal lieutenants, be paid an allowance of 2s. 6d. a day on the same principle as lieutenants specialising in gunnery, torpedo, navigation, sub marines, and gymnastics; and whether he will state if all lieutenants now performing signal duties obtain this extra pay.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) No such orders as those referred to have been issued, but arrangements have been made recently for selected lieutenants to go through a course in the signal school and for the names of such officers as show themselves to be well qualified in signalling to be specially noted, with a view to their employment in that duty. Authority has also been obtained to pay an allowance to a lieutenant appointed as signal officer in a fleet, if the appointment is in addition to that of the flag lieutenant and the signal duties are not carried out by the latter officer.