HL Deb 30 June 1865 vol 180 cc971-4
THE EARL OF LONGFORD

said, he wished to ask a Question of the noble Earl the Secretary for War respecting the preparation and issue of Army Commissions. Many complaints had been made upon the subject, but he would state some circumstances that had occurred to himself. On the 31st of May, 1865, there was delivered at his house his commission as colonel in the army, dated July, 1855. That commission bore the counter signature of General Peel, who quitted office in 1859, and therefore its preparation must have been complete six years ago. Upon the back of the commission were some pencil marks which, however necessary it might be to make during the passage of the Commission through the offices, ought not to be allowed to remain upon a document which bore upon it Her Majesty's signature. On the 1st of June he received another commission, addressed to the late Earl of Longford, who died in 1859. He scarcely knew what to do with that commission; but, upon the whole, he thought the best course would be to return it to the War Department before the financial officer called, as no doubt he would do, for the stamp duty on it. While speaking of the stamp duty, he might mention that on the 7th of May, 1863, he had been obliged to send a remonstrance to the War Office against being called upon for stamp duty which had already been paid. In reply, he had received a letter expressing the regret of the noble Earl opposite that a mistake should have occurred. He had consulted a friend as to what he should do in respect of the commissions which had just been sent to him, and he was advised to wait a few days to see whether any more were sent. He acted on that advice; but had not long to wait, for on the 2nd of June there came to him two other commissions, one dated July, 1855, signed by General Peel, and the other dated 1857. It appeared from those circumstances that delay was the rule of the office, and therefore he wished to have some explanation of its causes. He did not desire to make any personal complaint, but simply brought the matter forward that it might receive such attention as it might deserve. Commissions lost much of their value when they were only issued years after they had been gazetted. He wished to ask, Under what Arrangements the Commissions of Officers are prepared and issued by the War Department?

EARL DE GREY AND RIPON

said, he would first explain what were the existing arrangements for the issue of commissions, and would next notice the particular circumstance of the noble Earl's case, but he could only do so generally, as the noble Earl had given him no notice of his intention to introduce the particular instances he had referred to. The practice was that as soon as an officer was gazetted for promotion or appointment steps were taken for the preparation of his commission. The commission was not generally issued for some time, but was retained in case of any alteration being found to be necessary. It was not issued to the officer until the stamp duty had been paid upon it. That duty ought to be paid out of the first pay receivable by the officer; and as soon as the War Office found from the quarterly accounts that the stamp duty had been paid the commission ought to be issued. That was the present rule, and he trusted that it would be strictly adhered to in future. The noble Earl had adverted to delays which had taken place in the issue of commissions, and had referred to his own case. Such delays had arisen from two causes—slackness in the payment of the stamp duties and a pressure upon the Office. The matter had been brought under the notice of successive Secretaries for War; and when General Peel was in office he took measures to enforce the payment of the stamp duty, and later, Sir George Lewis laid down the rules now in force for immediate payment. There had, however, arisen from various causes largo arrears in the issue of commissions, and in 1862 an Act was passed altering the mode of signing such documents. After the passing of that Act, Sir George Lewis proceeded to sign commissions, and he (Earl de Grey) followed the example; but he found that the number of unissued commissions was so large that, if extra efforts to sign them were not made, they would not be issued for several years. Last year, in October and November, he had signed about 14,000 commissions, but this unfortunate result had followed from his zeal, that with this large mass of documents all signed at one time, there came a pressure on the branch of the department which issued them, and consequently there had been a certain amount of delay in sending them out. These facts would explain how it was that the noble Earl had received several commissions about the same time. The delays, however, had now ceased, and he hoped that in future commissions would be issued within three months of the promotion and appointment being gazetted. With proper precautions there could arise no future arrears. He would, however, venture to ask the noble Earl whether he could say that his commission had not been lying in the hands of his agents—for such cases had frequently happened?

THE EARL OF HARDWICKE

said, he could not conceive anything more absurd than that an officer of the army should be commissioned to do certain acts and perform certain duty without the commission having been placed in his hands before he was called upon to do those acts and discharge that duty. In the navy this was not the case; and he hoped it would cease to be the practice in the army.

THE EARL OF DERBY

suggested that there was a part of the noble Earl's (Earl de Grey and Ripon) explanation which required to be explained. The noble Earl had stated that in some instances the commissions remained unissued from the slackness of the officers in paying the stamp duty; but almost in the same sentence he had observed that the stamp duty was deducted from the first payment made to the officer.

EARL DE GREY AND RIPON

said, that the deduction to which he had referred, and which, he might observe, had been adopted only recently, was made by the agent and not by the War Office,