§ Lieut.-Colonel BUCHANANasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that officers of the Royal Air Force have been charged compulsorily the sum of one-third of a day's pay monthly towards the Central Mess Fund of that corps; under what authority this charge against officers has been made; and what are the purposes to which, and under whose control, these funds are being put?
§ Major TRYONThe statement in the first part of my hon. and gallant Friend's question is substantially correct, in that a deduction of one day's pay a quarter, subsequently reduced to one day's pay a year, has in many cases been made from officers' pay in respect of the Royal Flying Corps Central Mess Fund (now the Royal Air Force Officers' Sports Fund). In regard to the second part, this fund was founded as a voluntary association by officers of the late Royal Flying Corps, primarily for the encouragement of sport, and what was originally a voluntary subscription became by custom a deduction from officers' accounts, subject to the right of officers to reclaim any moneys so deducted if they wished. Deductions ceased to be made from March, 1919. In regard to the last part of the question, the fund is now administered by an elected committee of five officers of the Royal Air Force, and will in future be utilised for the purpose of assisting and encouraging sport in the Royal Air Force.