§ 23. Major KELLEYasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what is the increased charge to the State for retired pay which results from the practice of allowing a senior naval officer to take the rank of admiral and fly his flag for one day on retiring?
§ Mr. AMERYI assume that the practice referred to is that introduced by Order-in-Council of 9th March, 1914, under which a captain who is not to be employed as a flag officer, but is qualified for promotion, is promoted when his turn comes, and after one day on the flag list is retired with the retired pay of a rear-admiral. Under the arrangements previously in force, an officer in such circumstances, in accordance with the long established custom of the Naval Service, would have been promoted when his turn came and retained on the flag list until retired for non-service. As the retired pay of a rear-admiral is dependent upon length of service, towards which half-pay time counts as one-third, the present arrangement, as compared with that previously in force, results, in the great majority of cases, in the officer receiving a slightly decreased rate of retired pay. The total cost of the arrangement to the State, however, involves a number of other considerations, such as the number of promotions to flag rank, the size of the 1878 flag list, etc., and it would not be possible, without complicated actuarial calculations, to work out the eventual financial effects of the two systems. There is no doubt, however, that the present system is more conducive to efficiency, and the Admiralty consider it is justified on that ground.