§ LORD BERESFORD had the following Questions on the Paper—
§ To ask His Majesty's Government how many Commissions as assistant paymaster, Royal Naval Reserve, have been granted to civilians since the outbreak of war, and the number of commissions, Royal Navy, granted to writer ranks and ratings during the same period; the number of chief writers, Royal Navy, now recommended for promotion, and their average length of service; what number of years an accountant officer on the permanent list of the Navy has to serve before drawing the same rate of pay as a new entry assistant paymaster, Royal Naval Reserve; whether men from the shore are still being entered as assistant paymasters, Royal Naval Reserve; why such inexperienced men have been and are being entered in preference to promoting chief and warrant writers who are more competent to fill their positions; and whether future requirements for accountant officers will be met by promotion from writers.
§ The noble and gallant Lord said: My Lords, anything that concerns the welfare of the Royal Navy naturally provokes 573 great sympathy in this House, more especially where any injustice can be shown to be done to any department of that Service. The Service, to be thoroughly efficient, should have contentment and comfort in all its branches, and no semblance of injustice. Late efforts have shown that the Admiralty are desirous of recognising the claims of all the different departments on the lower deck, and of giving them, where they are so qualified, commissioned rank. But there is no commissioned rank for writers, and, if your Lordships will permit me, I will endeavour to show the injustice under which these men labour.
§ Commissioned rank is open to all seamen in the gunnery, torpedo, signalling, and wireless telegraphy ratings. Commissioned rank is also open to engine-room artificers, carpenter ratings, and Royal Marines. Writers occupy most responsible positions of trust and are deserving and hardworking, and I do not think the Admiralty have given them that consideration which I maintain is their due. For instance, candidates for gunner, torpedo gunner, boatswain, and warrant telegraphist have to serve only seven years to qualify them for the warrant. Thus a boy can join the Navy between the age of 15 and 16 and become a warrant officer between the age of 22 and 23. The selection of petty officers for warrant, officers, and of warrant officers to mate for promotion to lieutenant, is made from candidates not over 25. Shipwrights are eligible for promotion to carpenter after twelve months' service. The unfairness to the writer class is shown when you make these comparisons. The writer has to have a minimum service of seventeen years and he must be 35 years of age before he is eligible for warrant writer. That compares very unfavourably with the other classes and departments on board ship. The average age of the first twelve writers promoted to warrant rank in 1910 is over 50; the average age of I warrant writers now serving is 44; and the average age of the five chief warrant writers at present in the Service is over 51. These men have had years of service in all branches of work, such as pay accounts, ledger, secretarial, drafting, and mobilisation. They also have charge of all the accounts, and all the matters relating thereto, of the gunnery, torpedo, and destroyer flotillas. In fact, their work is immense in every ship in the Service. 574 All Commanders-in-Chief, I believe without exception, are in favour of these men's promotion, and of commissioned rank being given. Most of the chiefs of the accountant branch in the Service—that is their own branch—have also, knowing the worth of these men, recommended that they should be qualified for commissioned rank.
§ Where the writers feel injustice in the present war is this. Assistant paymasters, Royal Naval Reserve, when they are appointed straight from the shore, are senior to and in control of all writer ratings, but the curious thing is that the writer class have to instruct these senior officers in the work, of which they know nothing whatever. But an assistant paymaster, owing to his commissioned rank, is senior to all these writers and gets considerably higher pay. I will give your Lordships some cases, but will refrain from mentioning names. The first is the case of an assistant paymaster who was brought in from shore to the Royal Naval Reserve. He was before this a first grade clerk in a gas office, receiving £2 a week; he has now commissioned rank over all the writers in the service, and is receiving £219 a year. Another assistant paymaster, Royal Naval Reserve, was previously a counter clerk to a tourist agent, and knew nothing whatever about ships' accounts; he now gets £219 a year. Another Royal Naval Reserve assistant paymaster was lately a tramway employee; he has come in over the heads of these writers and gets this high rate of pay. Another man appointed assistant paymaster was a penny-in-the-slot gas-meter collector; he entered the Royal Navy with commissioned rank, and is over the heads of these well-tried men who know their work. Another man who received a commission as assistant paymaster was a junior clerk in an office receiving £70 a year; he now gets this £219 a year. As I say, all these men who come into the Navy with commissioned rank are put over all the writers, and they have to be taught their work by these men who have put in long years of continual service. At present promotions to warrant rank are very few, and they are deferred so long and so late in life that the men are not as useful as they would have been earlier.
§ With your Lordships' permission, I wish to make a few suggestions to my noble 575 friend opposite. We should have early promotion to warrant rank, and it should be by selection and not by seniority. The men should be promoted who have recognised ability. I would propose that the number of warrant writers should be increased. There are 270 chief writers available for promotion to warrant writers, and they are all strongly recommended. There is at present very little chance of any of them being promoted; at any rate, very few have got promoted. I would further propose that the number of chief warrant writers should be increased, and that commissions should be granted to the writer branch. I think I have said enough to show your Lordships that these men are justified in thinking that they are not treated fairly. They see every other branch of the Service, with three or four exceptions, allowed to obtain commissioned rank. The work of these men is immense; they are in positions of great responsibility and trust, and I can confidently say that the whole Naval Service regard the present position of these men as an injustice. I therefore hope that my noble friend will give some sort of encouragement that these men will receive that recognition of their services to which they are justly entitled.
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)My Lords, the numbers of civilians granted commissions as assistant paymasters, Royal Naval Reserve, since the outbreak of war are as follows:—Permanent commissions in the Royal Naval Reserve, 68; temporary commissions in the Royal Naval Reserve for general service, 551; temporary commissions in the Royal Naval Reserve for service in auxiliaries, 255. The officers in the third category are not entered for general service, but are signed on under an agreement which may be terminated at any time. The totals given above are those actually entered, and include officers killed in action, died or discharged, since the outbreak of war. Five warrant writers have been promoted to commissioned warrant rank during the same period, such rank having been introduced in October last.
§ LORD BERESFORDAs the noble Duke's statement might mislead the House, I would point out that promotion to commissioned warrant rank does not give a man a commission.
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREThe total number of chief writers recommended for warrant rank is 213, but this figure includes some who have been killed or invalided. The average service as chief writer of those recommended is from five to seven years. The number of years an accountant officer on the permanent list of the Navy has to serve before drawing the same rate of pay as an assistant paymaster, Royal Naval Reserve, is 7½ years, or, if the messing allowance of the assistant paymaster, Royal Naval Reserve, is taken into account, 13½ years from date of entry, but it must be remembered that the men on the permanent list have constant employment and certainty of pension on retirement. A few entries of assistant paymasters, Royal Naval Reserve, from the shore are still being made. These officers have been, and are being, entered in order to meet the temporary requirements of the Naval Service during war, and they will revert to civil life at the termination of hostilities. Care is being taken to select men unfit for military service. Promoted chief and warrant writers, on the other hand, can only be utilised to fill permanent requirements still existing after hostilities. Chief writers have been, and still are being, promoted to warrant rank to meet present and future requirements of accountant officers, and since war broke out the number of promoted chief writers has been increased from 15 to 52.
I hope I have now dealt categorically with the Questions on the Paper, but there are some general considerations which the House must keep in mind. In the first place, we have, in the case which my noble friend has brought forward, to face the same problems which are continually arising in nearly all branches of the Public Service. The nature of this service, like many others, entails the employment of a large number of men in the lower ranks and relatively few in the higher posts. The object to be kept in view is to make the prospects of promotion as fair as possible all round, to give an equal opportunity to all to rise in the Service, and to maintain an even flow of promotions.
To turn to the question immediately before the House, I understand the main criticism is that men have been brought in from outside in preference to promoting chief writers. I must remind the House that the number of warrant writers before 577 the war was 15, and there are now five commissioned writers and 47 warrant writers, and I think I am justified in saying that the branch has been fairly treated. From practical experience difficulty has been found in providing relief for the writers who have been promoted, and if the promotion of this class had been substantially increased the difficulty would also be increased to a considerable extent. Moreover, it must be remembered that the number of assistant paymasters has necessarily been increased to meet the demand of the Service during the war, and the Board were and are still of opinion that the best method of dealing with the immediate situation and the state of affairs which is expected to prevail after the war was to obtain the services of a number of qualified men for temporary purposes. When these men can be released they will return to civil employment. The employment of officers of the accountant branch was the subject of inquiry by a Departmental Committee which reported on March 31, 1914. Effect has already been given to some of the recommendations, but no doubt the position will again have to be reviewed in the light of the experience gained during the war. I need hardly say that the policy of the Board will be, as it has always been, to see that all branches should as far as possible be treated on equal terms, and that all men in whatever branch they may be serving should have equal opportunities.
§ LORD BERESFORDMy Lords, with the permission of the House I should like to make this remark, that my noble friend has not answered the question as to whether the Admiralty are going to give writers the same privilege as other branches of the Service have—that is as regards commissioned rank. A commissioned chief writer is not a man with a commission the same as an assistant paymaster or a lieutenant. What I want to get at definitely is this. Do the Admiralty refuse the same privilege to the writers in His Majesty's Navy as they give to every other class, with the exception of three or four, in all departments?
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREI am sure that the wish of the Admiralty is to treat all men, in whatever branch they may be serving, as fairly as possible; but if the noble and gallant Lord will put another Question on the Paper dealing with this point I shall be glad to make further inquiries.