§ 13. Sir FRANK SANDERSONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the terms of the commissions issued to engineer officers previous to the issue of the A.F.C. 3,241, 1925; and, in view of the fact that those now being issued mean that these officers are not now legally in command of the personnel of their own 270 department, and that they are not entitled to command of technical establishments of schools of instruction of engineer officers and men, he will give the matter his attention?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANExisting officers employed on engineering duties have different forms of commission according to whether these were issued to them as assistant engineers, engineer sub-lieutenants, sub-lieutenants (E) or mates (E), on the one hand, or as sub-lieutenants on the other had. I regret, however, that I am not able to follow the conclusions which my hon. Friend apparently draws from this fact. The legal powers and position of naval officers do not depend upon the wording of their commissions, but on the King's Regulations and the provisions of the Naval Discipline Act, and the last part of his question does not therefore arise.