VISCOUNT TEMPLETOWNMy Lords, I rise to ask the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for War whether it is the case that officers of the Royal Garrison Artillery ordered on service to South Africa are deprived of armament pay, which is issued to all officers of this branch of the service both in England and India; whether officer's of any other branch of Her Majesty's forces are deprived of any portion of their pay whilst in South Africa; and whether he will consider the advisability of continuing the issue of armament pay to the officers concerned during their absence on active service in South Africa.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, the armament pay to which the noble Lord refers was given to the Garrison Artillery as, I understand, a kind of solatium for the comparative irksomeness of employment in fortresses, and with the object of making the dismounted branch of the Artillery less unattractive than it might otherwise be. According to the letter of the Regulations, armament pay can only be drawn by an officer of the Garrison Artillery when he is employed on the duties of his corps, and there was consequently some doubt whether-, when a Garrison Artillery officer was for a time employed with field artillery, he could be allowed to draw the armament pay. But I have made inquiries into the matter, and I find that when the particular officers to whom the noble Lord refers were selected for employment with the Field Artillery, no special arrangement was made with them in regard to the abandonment by them of their armament pay. That being so, I think there would perhaps be some hardship in depriving them of what they no doubt look upon as a permanent and well-assured part of their emoluments, and I have therefore arranged that their armament pay shall be given to them.