§ Sir B. FALLEasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether Article 171, King's Regulations, as amended by Admiralty Fleet Order No. 3,241/1925, or any other article of the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions or Engineering Manual, gives engineer officers authority to carry out executive duties outside their own Department or assume military command in His Majesty's ships; and whether he is aware that orders exist at a certain Home port whereby engineer officers are directed by superior authority to carry out executive duties such as duty officer of group, going rounds of vessels of group at specified times, attendance on deck for hoisting and lowering of colours, and assuming command of ships of group in absence of commanding officers at night?
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§ Mr. BRIDGEMANMy hon. and gallant Friend is evidently under some misapprehension as to the meaning of the term "military command," which is defined in the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions as thegeneral authority vested in certain officers to command one or more ships or boats or to direct any work or undertaking which requires the co-operation of different branches of the Service. There is nothing in the Regulations, however, to prevent engineer officers from exercising command outside their own Department when directed to do so by superior authority, and, in fact, Article 22 clearly contemplates that occasions will arise when such action will be taken. The difference in the two cases is that executive officers do so as part of their ordinary functions; engineer officers, as directed by superior authority.