§ Rear-Admiral Beamishasked the Secretary of State for War whether it has yet been decided to grant promotion to Territorial quartermasters who have been embodied, and so are full-time soldiers, 310W after the same periods of service as Regular Army quartermasters; and whether he is aware that the nine months' delay in coming to a decision on this point is causing great hardship to a class of officer whose means are never great in relation to the expenses they have to meet?
§ Mr. EdenThe Territorial quartermaster differs from the Regular in that the greater part of his service has not been full time, and the conditions are not altogether comparable. I propose, however, in future, that promotion to captain shall in the case of the Territorial quartermaster be at six years and to major at twelve years as in the case of the Regular. It should, however, be made plain that the pay of quartermasters does not depend on rank and the grant of this earlier promotion will not, therefore, affect pay. It will, however, affect the marriage allowances given to officers over 30 and certain non-effective benefits.