§ 6. Colonel YATEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the. Admiralty has cancelled its decision to grant hard-lying money to the officers and men in the river gunboats in Mesopotamia, and further has ordered that all such hard-lying money already paid to the said officers and men is to be refunded by them from their pay by monthly instalments; and, if so, whether, in view of the hardships undergone by the said officers and men, he will take steps to make the grant of the hard-lying money effective?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)Hard-lying money in the gunboats was authorised locally without the necessary prior sanction of the Admiralty, and as it 1305 appeared that the discomforts experienced in the vessels were mainly due to the climatic conditions and were met by the payment of the usual climate allowance, directions were given for the recovery of the overpayments involved. Upon further representations being made, however, it was decided to allow full rates of hard-lying money (instead of half-rates as paid in the first instance) in the small craft employed in the Mesopotamian Rivers, and the orders that had been given for the recovery of past payments were cancelled.
§ Colonel YATEThank you.