§ Lord CHARLES BERESFORDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether a considerable number of artisans in the Royal Navy have been ordered to be disrated through no fault of their own; whether men holding the ratings of armourer's mate, armourer's crew, blacksmith's mate, cooper's crew, painter, second-class, plumber's mate, and leading carpenter's crew, were rated under an order by the Admiralty sanctioning special advancement; and, if so, whether these men have to revert back to their former ratings; whether they are to refund the additional rates of pay which took effect on promotion, if so, in what manner; and whether he will explain to the House how the mistake occurred?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe Noble Lord no doubt refers to orders recently given for the cancellation of certain erroneous advancements of the artisan ratings mentioned. Directions were given by an Admiralty letter of the 23rd June, 1910, that all such ratings who possessed certain qualifications which were named, were to be specially advanced to the next highest grade of their class as from the date of the letter. Owing to a misreading of these directions in some cases men were advanced who had not the required qualifications, but only obtained them after the date of the letter. The retention of the higher ratings by those so advanced could not be permitted without unfairness to other men of the same rating senior on the list. The advancements have, therefore, been cancelled, and any overpayments made to the1802W men concerned are to be refunded at the rate of 10s. a month.