Major TERRELLasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is aware that the pay and allowances of a warrant officer or a senior non-commissioned officer with a wife and children is in most cases greater than the pay of a second lieutenant, and that, in consequence of the inadequacy of the pay of second-lieutenants, many warrant officers and non-commissioned officers with wives and families have been obliged to refuse commissions on the ground that it would be impossible for them to maintain their wives and families on their pay if they accepted commissions; and, having regard to the effect on the Service and on warrant officers and non-commissioned officers of duly qualified warrant officers and noncommissioned officers being unable to accept commissions by reason solely of the inadequate pay given to subaltern officers, whether the Government propose to take any steps to remedy such conditions?
§ Mr. FORSTERIt is not the case that the pay and allowances on a warrant or non-commissioned officer in most cases exceed the pay and allowances of a second lieutenant. The matters referred to in the last part of the question are under active consideration, and I hope to be able to make an announcement shortly.
Major TERRELLasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, 293W by General Routine Order No. 248 of the 22nd December, 1916, issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, it was ordered that lodging, ing, fuel, and light allowances and field allowances issuable under Army Order 501 of 1914 are not admissible if the officer's wife is living with him in Egypt; if so, will he explain why an officer serving in Egypt should be penalised because he is living with his wife; is the result of such order that a captain serving in Egypt who lives with his wife gets less in pay and allowances than an unmarried second lieutenant serving there; and, if so, what is the justification, if any, for such an order and what authority has the officer issuing such order to deprive married officers of the rights given them by Army Order 501 of 1914?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe General Routine Orders of 22nd December, 1916, reaffirmed orders issued by the War Office early in 1915. The special allowances under Army Order 501 of 1914 were granted as a provision for the wives or other dependants of officers, who were obliged to vacate their quarters or were otherwise left unprovided for when the officers took the field. They were not given to the wives of officers who continued to do duty at Home or in Mediterranean stations, such as Malta and Gibraltar. Officers whose wives were already provided with lodgings in kind or in cash in Egypt were consequently excluded from the special grant. It is not the case that a married captain in Egypt, livng with his wife, draws less in pay and allowances than an unmarried second lieutenant.