§ 34. Captain FALCONasked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that an order has been made to the effect that officers transferred to permanent commissions in the Regular Army from the Territorial Force are not eligible for the war gratuity for their services in the latter force, under Article 497 of the pay warrant; that this order is of late date and has been made retrospective, and has thus been enforced on officers now holding permanent commissions in the Regular Army, and who were granted them previous to this order being in force; will the many young officers of the Territorial Force, whose names are being registered for permanent commissions in the Regular Army, some of them with four years' active service, be treated on the same lines, and be ineligible for the gratuity for their past services in the Territorial Force; and can he explain the reasons for this treatment of officers who served in the Territorial Force from embodiment, and were, in most cases, granted their commissions in the Regular Army for service in the field?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLMy hon. and gallant Friend is under a misapprehension. Army Order 406, of 1915, stated clearly that the gratuity is not issuable to temporary officers transferred to permanent Commissions in the Regular Army.