§ Mr. CAVEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, by the Order in Council of the 9th May, 1891, Army officers transferred for service under the Admiralty are guaranteed all their rights and privileges as Army officers; whether, notwithstanding that order, Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. Brabazon, having been appointed deputy naval ordnance officer, was, on 16th August, 1908, invalided on the report of a fleet surgeon, and, without the authority of a medical board, and was, in spite of his protest and the opinion of his private medical adviser, that he was fit for duty, placed on half-pay until 29th June, 1909, with a consequent loss to him of £283 10s.; and whether this sum, having been deducted in breach of the regulations, can now be made good to him?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe hon. and learned Gentleman accurately recounts the facts-of this case. The Admiralty, while admitting that Colonel Brabazon could not be invalided out of the Service without the finding of a military medical board, declined to employ an officer in a responsible position while he was considered by their own responsible medical advisers to be unfit for it, and, consequently, Colonel Brabazon was on half-pay from the completion of his full-pay sick-leave until found fit by a naval medical board. Colonel Brabazon's place in the interval was filled by the promotion of another officer, and full pay could not be given to two officers for the same appointment when the regulated amount of full pay sick leave had expired.