14. Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSasked the Secretary of State for War whether, seeing that Article 496 of the Royal Warrant for Pay provides, inter alia, that in the case of retired officers compulsorily recalled to service they shall receive the same rates of pay and allowances as officers of corresponding Army rank in addition to any retired pay of which they may be in receipt and, seeing that this provision was in force for many years before the outbreak of War and was therefore until its suspension last September a condition on which officers accepted service with the liability to be recalled to service in time of national emergency under Article 518, will he say whether there is any precedent or justification for a retrospective variation of such a contract of service in the interests of one party and without the consent of the officer concerned?
§ Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYThe operation of this Article was duly suspended by Royal Warrant, and I cannot admit that that action was in any way ultra vires.
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSIs it not a fact that officers who joined the Army with a Reserve obligation had the expectation for many years before the War that they would have certain advantages in case they were called up, and apart from this new arrangement being ultra vires is it not a matter of injustice that the conditions should be changed without the officers being consulted?
§ Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYAs a matter of fact this condition did not arise until 1907.