§ Brigadier-General CROFTasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office 1988W whether his attention has been called to the fact that on mobilisation an officer of the Special Reserve receives an outfit allowance of £50, whereas under paragraph 671 (Allowance Regulations) other officers receive £100; further, on demobilisation, under paragraph 497 (Royal Warrant for Pay), Special Reserve officers get a higher scale of gratuity, but those who are ex-Regular officers in the Special Reserve only receive the lower scale under paragraph 497; and whether, therefore, he is prepared to remove an anomaly by which ex-Regular officers serving in the Special Reserve receive the lower mobilisation grant because they are in the Special Reserve, whilst on demobilisation they receive the lower gratuity on the grounds that they are ex-Regular officers?
Captain GUESTMy hon. and gallant Friend is under a misapprehension. There is no connection between the two grants. The £100 grant for outfit was a maximum grant, and was reduced to £50 for officers rejoining after the 4th December, 1914. The lower gratuity, as is clearly stated in the Warrant, is determined by the fact that the officer retired from the Regular Army with retired pay (or a gratuity), and not on the ground that he is an ex-Regular officer. Such officers receive full pay and retired pay whilst employed. It is not proposed to make any alteration in the Regulations.
§ Brigadier-General CROFTasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether his attention has been called to the fact that there are, or were until recently, twenty-one special companies of Royal Engineers in the British Expeditionary Force, France, which are commanded in every case by a major, acting; and whether it is a fact that it is now proposed to assess the gratuities of these officers on the pay of captains or lieutenants in spite of the fact that in many cases these officers have had the responsibility of commanding these companies for three years?
Captain GUESTAs already stated, the whole question of acting rank as affecting gratuity is under consideration.