THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNasked the Government, When it is intended by the Admiralty to make an alteration in the system of promotion from the rank of Captain to that of Flag Officer? The noble Earl said that when he brought the subject under the notice of the House last Session, a noble Friend of his who was not now present (the Earl of Malmesbury) concurred with him that recourse must be had to selection in the case of those Officers, and in consequence of that expression of opinion he (the Earl of Camperdown) had expected that something would have been done before now. The number of Flag Officers on the establishment was to be about 50, and that of Captains 150. With a promotion by seniority of one out of three, he did not see how the best men were to be had. Where the opportunity of selection was so limited, the Admiralty must be hampered in selecting the best men.
LORD ELPHINSTONEsaid, he had some difficulty in understanding the nature of the noble Earl's Question. He was not aware that the Admiralty were disposed to make any alteration in the system of promotion from the rank of Captain to that of Flag Officer. The matter had been discussed, but no decision had been arrived at; it was a question which required to be approached with very great caution. He had looked into the Report of the Committee of 1863, and in that Report it was laid down that it was the undoubted Prerogative of Her Majesty to promote by selection any Captain whom she might be advised to promote. By an Order in Council, even in time of peace a promotion might be so made. But, in point of fact, selection governed all the promotions at present, not only in the lower ranks, but also in the higher. One of the most responsible tasks the Admiralty had to perform was that of deciding as to what Captains should be allowed to qualify for the rank of Flag Officer. To qualify, a Captain must serve six years afloat, and in the course of that service fill two, possibly three separate appointments. If, in the course of fulfilling his service, a Captain showed that he was the right man for the rank of Flag Officer, he might depend upon finding no difficulty in 1258 obtaining further employment, and so qualifying for the Active Flag List. If he did not, the Admiralty took care not to do so. He became an Admiral in time, but an Admiral on the Retired List. The truth was that the Admirals on the Active List were the selected of the selected—the crème de la crème. He was aware that in the French Navy the Flag Officers were taken by selection from the Captains on the Active List, and that was also the system in England, but it was given up in 1747; the noble Duke opposite, who himself had filled the post of First Lord of the Admiralty (the Duke of Somerset), told the Committee that he was aware that French naval officers complained of that system. Suppose a case in which a Captain was promoted over the head of 20 seniors, every one of these 20 others would contend that he was the man who ought to have been selected, and his Friends in both Houses of Parliament would advocate his cause. The result of such a system would be to flood both Houses with remonstrances. He did not think it would be popular with the Service at large, and he hoped it never would be adopted. There were 175 Captains on the Active List, and not 150, as had been stated by his noble Friend. Under the scheme introduced while his noble Friend was at the Admiralty, and which was known as the Childers' scheme, there were only three promotions from the rank of Captain to that of Flag Officer in 1873, and only four in 1874. This was under Mr. Childers' administration. Under Mr. Ward Hunt's there were seven in 1875, and seven would be the number each year; while the number of promotions from the rank of Commander to that of Captain would be from 12 to 15 a-year, and the number of promotions from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Commander 25. By that means, he thought, a constant flow of promotion would be maintained.
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNreferred to Hansard to show that he was correct in what he had represented to be the statement made by Lord Malmesbury last Session. He regretted to find from his noble Friend that there was no intention to adopt the system of promotion by selection in its entirety—especially after the debate of last year, when it was admitted that its adoption was necessary.