Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. HOPEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether engine-room artificers were excluded from the recent offer of free discharge to men of the Navy; and, if so, what is the amount which a fifth-class engine room artificer must pay to purchase his discharge?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe offers of free discharges are dictated entirely by the surpluses remaining after the War. Engine-room artificers were not excluded from the recent offers, and in each of them 2 per cent. of engine-room artificers borne were offered free discharge, and chief engine-room artificers a higher percentage. Discharge by purchase is now suspended, but when it was in operation engine-room artificers, 5th class, were required to pay a sum of £30.