9. Captain HALLasked the First Lord Lord of the Admiralty, if he is aware that the new title of paymaster-lieutenant (W) has recently appeared, and if, as this distinction between ex-cadet officers and those who have risen from the ranks is invidious, he will take steps to abolish it?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINPaymaster-lieutenants (W), paymaster-lieutenants (S) and paymaster-lieutenants (C), who are promoted to these ranks from commissioned writers, commissioned supply officers and commissioned cooks respectively, are not interchangeable, and differ from ex-cadet officers in the scope of the duties they are qualified to perform, the emoluments to which they are entitled and the regulations for their advancement 341 and retirement. It has therefore been found desirable to distinguish them by an appropriate title. The only other alternative would be to have an entirely separate list.
Captain HALLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that, while we quite appreciate that difficulty, there is a great deal of feeling among the men so promoted that it does not tend to help men coming from the lower deck, and, as the Admiralty is about to change the principle with regard to mates, will the right hon. Gentleman consider taking this branch of the Service also into consideration when that is done?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINFor the reasons which I stated in my answer, I think those men cannot appear in the general lists without distinctive marks, and it is better that they should appear with those distinctive marks in the Navy List than that separate lists should be kept for them.