§ 106. Mr. KINGasked the Secretary of State for War whether he has considered the hardship involved by the allowances of men of the Royal Naval Division, who are now under the War Office, being on a less generous scale than the allowance made to the dependants of privates in the Army; whether he is aware that the allowances of an Army private with a wife and six children amount to 36s. weekly, whereas a Royal Naval Division able sea-man receives only 29s. 8d. for the same dependants; and whether he intends to remedy this inequality forthwith?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe Army separation allowance for a wife and six children would be 25s. 6d. only. My hon. Friend appears to have included the allotment of 3s. 6d. twice in the figure quoted by him. I may remind my hon. Friend that field allowance of 3s. 6d. a week at Blandford, or of either 2s. 4d. or 3s. 6d. a week abroad, according as the man's unit is or is not billeted, is payable in the Royal Naval Division in addition to pay and separation allowance.
§ Mr. KINGDoes not the fact remain that these men do not do so well in the Royal Naval Division as if they were in the Regular Army?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe pay in the Royal Naval Division, except in the case of an ordinary seaman, who, as a rule, is a young fellow of nineteen and single, is higher than in the Army, and therefore they can make a larger allotment.