§ MR. ROSE (Cambridgeshire, Newmarket)To ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the difference in the amount of retired pay attainable by the two classes of ranker officers; whether he is aware that a brevet major receives retired pay at the rate of £300 a year on reaching the age of forty-eight years, and a district officer of the Royal Artillery and an officer of the coast battalion of the Royal Engineers £292 a year on reaching the age of fifty-five years, whereas a quartermaster or riding-master only receives £200 a year on reaching fifty-five years of age; and whether he can see his way to adjust these discrepancies by levelling up the retired pay of quartermasters and riding-masters to that of one or other of the more favoured classes of officers.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) As it has recently been explained to the House, it has not been found practicable to take any steps towards increasing the retired pay of quartermasters. This decision also applies to riding-masters. The case of the quartermasters and riding-masters, as compared with that of the ordinary combatant substantive or brevet-major, was fully dealt with in the reply to a Question put by the Member for the Stowmarket Division of Suffolk on Monday last. As regards the district officers of Royal Artillery and coast battalion officers of Royal Engineers, it must be pointed out that they retire at the age of fifty-five on £292 if major, and on £210 if captain; that the promotion of such officers is by selection to fill vacancies; and that the technical nature of their work renders their duties more important than those of the quartermasters or riding-masters, who obtain their promotion automatically, the step hot being accompanied by any real increase in their duties or responsibilities.