The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-13 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE 01 COMMONS, April 12.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
EAST SOMERSETSIIIRE RAILWAY.
Mr. BANNERMAN presented several petitions
against this railway.
WILTS AND SOMERSET RAILWAY.
Lord DUNCAN presented petitions against this
BELFAST IMPROVEMENT BILL.

This Bill was read a second time.
WINDSOR, Sze., RAILWAY STATIONS.
Mr. WYSE presented several petitions against the
Windsor and Staines Railway Stations.
WILTS, SOMERSE AND WEYMOUTH
RAILWAY.

Mr. SEYMER presented several petitions against
this railway.
GREAT WESTERN PROJECTS.
Mr. H. BARELY presented several petitions against
these projects.
NORTH-WESTERN PROJECTS.

Sir R. H. INGLIS presented several petitions against
the projects for these railways.
SCOTCH REGISTRATION BILL.
Mr. BANNERMAN prestated a petition against this
Bill.
GOVERNMENT EDUCATION BILL.
Mr. DUNCOMBE presented a petition against this
Bill. _ .

RAILWAYS REGULATION BILL.
Mr. STRUTT presented a petition from 1,400 of the
principal merchants and traders of the city of Glasgow,
in favour of the Railways Regulation Bill.
NEW MEMBER.

Lord CHARLES took the oaths and his seat
for the county of Bedford.
SCOTCH REGISTRATION BILL.
Mr. LOCKHART presented several petitions from
Scotland against this Bill.
GOVERNMENT PLAN OF EDUCATION.
Mr. TRELAWNY presented several petitions against
this Bill.
NATIONAL DISPUTES.
Dr. BOWRING presented a petition from Newport,
in the Isle of Wight, in favour of arbitration in national
disputes, instead of an appeal to arms. The Hon.
Member also presented three petitions from Dissenting
teachers in Bolton against the Government education
plan.
GREAT WESTERN PROJECTS.

Mr. SPOONER presented upwards of a hundred peti-
tions against the several projects of the Great Western
Railway Company.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from the provost and
corporation of Addington praying for the repeal of the
inventory stamp tax.
EXAMINERS OF PRIVATE BILLS.

Mr. HUME gave notice that to-morrow he would
move for leave to bring in a Bill authorising the Speaker
to appoint examiners of the proceedings of all private
Bills before the House.

REGISTRATION BILL (SCOTLAND).
Lord G. BENTINCK preented several petitions from
Ayr and other place' in Scotland against the Registra-
tion Bill (Scotland).
GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF EDUCATION.

• _
Mr. MATHESON presented four petitions against
the Government Education scheme from Dissenting
congregations at Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, and
Newton Abbott.

ANATOMY ACT.
'Air. F. FRENCH presented a petition praying for
inquiry into the operation and working of the Anatomy
Act.

WASTE LANDS IMPROVEMENT BILL.
Mr. LABOUCHERE postponed the Waste Lands
Improvement Bill until to-morrow (Tuesday) week.
EDUCATION.

Mr. WILLIAMS presented a petition from a place
near Coventry against the Government scheme of edu-
cation.

MEDICAL OFFICERS IN THE ARMY.

On the order of the day for going into Committee of
Supply being read,
Sir H. DOUGLAS begged to call attention to
the cases of medical officers, surgeons, and pay-
masters of regiments, who have net been included in the
warrant issued in July, 1846, consequent upon the motion
made in April, 1815, for an improved retirement to a limited
number of medical officers, and all officers of regimental
staff, to extend to them in limited numbers, the bene-
fits conferred by warrants dated 1840 to limited numbers
of officers of all other branches and arms of the ser-
vice ; which motion appeared to receive the unanimous
approbation and support of the Committee, and was
only withdrawn on an express assurance that the pro-
position, for an improved retirement to all officers of
regimental staff, would be taken into favourable con-
sideration. Ile was deeply impressed with the
calamity which had befallen the sister country,
and be would feel a great difficulty in recommending
any measure which would embarrass the Government at
the present moment, but the act of justice which he re-
commended would not be of such a description; and he
was sure that if his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of
the Exchequer were present he would be very much
surprised at the smallness of the amount of
money requisite to perform this act of justice.
He would tell the Right Hon. Secretary at War that
this demand on the public purse would not, at the
utmost, exceed 1,3001. per annum. He would state
briefly to the House the case of those whose interests ho
advocated. In the year 1842 a warrant was issued
granting a full pay retirement to a limited number of
officers of the infantry and cavalry. There were 20
lieutenant-colonels, 20 majors, and 115 captains, 45 of
whom were brevet majors. This boon was extended
soon after to the cavalry, the engineers, and the
marines. To the officers of the latter corps was granted
permission to go on in the service, which, however,
was not permitted to the cavalry and infantry. He
thought that such a difference ought not to have been
made. The boon cost little or nothing, and he said that
it should in his opinion be extended likewise to the
, officers of the cavalry and infantry. It was, however,
extended to them at length, but the officers of the regi-
mental staff, the surgeons, the quartermasters, the pay-
masters, and the veterinary surgeons, were still ex-
cluded from its benefits. Ic 1845 he had given
his opinion upon this exception, and the lion.
Secretary at War who was then in office
promised that some alteration should be made. In 1846
a warrant was issued, granting an increased retiring
allowance to the quartermasters and veterinary sur-
geons, to the exclusion of the paymasters and surgeons.
The maximum pay of a surgeon on full pay after thirty
years' service was 11. 25., while the retiring pay allowed
them when they left the service was 15s. a day. Now,
what he wanted was to make the retiring pay of the
surgeons and paymasters in the army 18s., instead of
155., as at present. This was a very small increase,
indeed. This arrangement would, to a certain extent,
be self-sustaining. At present, when one of these officers
retired he was allowed 15s. a day, while the party who
succeeded him got but 12s. for the first five years at
least. There was, therefore, an actual saving in this
arrangement. But, he would ask the House, under such
, a plan who would consent to retire and take 15s. for
1/ 25., and give up in addition the barrack allowance,
servants, attendance, coal, candle, &c.? This in addition
was equal to 10s., so that the actual pay was about
11. 12s. a day. The consequence of this system was
that the surgeons, rather than retire, cling longer to
their appointments than was consistent with good service.
The Hon. Baronet then read certain letters from seffi.
cers in some of the regiments of the line in support of his
position. Having granted a boon to the quartermaster, the
House ought to extend the samejusiice to the paymaster,
but with regard to the surgeons and medical officers
of the army, in their case the claim was stronger. An
army surgeon had arduous and difficult duties to perform;
distressing scenes were continually passing before his eyes,
and 13 years was generally the extent of his servitude.
It would appear, from the returns, that that service of
the surgeons had been altogether overlooked. He
might take all the returns which had been made to the
Government, and of these he might cite the ser-
vices of Mr. Lewis, of the First Dragoon Guards,
who had served for thirty-nine years. He
might also cite those of Mr. Stevenson, of the
Third Dragoon Guards, who had given forty-one years'
service as well as of several other gentlemen who had
been injured by the present rules of the service. He
ought also to say, that they had to complain of the posi-
tion given by the present regulations of the service. Ac-
cording to these regulations the surgeon was to
receive three shillings a day, whereas the pay of a regi-
mental lieutenant colonel was eighteen shillings a day.
Then as to medical rank, it was always made subservient
to regimental service, and not only were the men de-
prived of their advantages as regards rank, but as
affected pension also. The Hon. Baronet then went
into the several gradations of rank, but showed that while
the pensions for a regimental officer for a forty years'
service were 601., those for a medical officer were only
tate/.
The Gallant Member then proceeded to read a le
which he had received from the widow of a medicalr
officer who had served in the Peninsula and in the West
Indies, stating that she bad lost her husband in the dis-
charge of his professional duties, but that the
have
pension which ought to been given to her
by virtue of the relative position which her husband
held in the service, had not been paid to her, and
that in consequence she, with her three orphan chil-
dren, had been reduced to the most distressing situation.
He would now conclude, and he hoped that in bringing
this question before the House he had not spoken in vain.
Mr. F. MAULE had only a few observations to make
on the subject. His Hon. Friend complained that the
warrant issued in 1846 had not included certain cases of
medical officers, surgeons, and paymasters. He (Mr.
F. Maule) did not think that the arrangement so lately
made should be disturbed. With reference to the
case of paymasters, his Honourable Friend said
then that he had no fault to find with the arrange-
ment as far as the paymasters were concerned.
There was no question that the paymasters had con-
siderable duties to perform which required serious at-
tention, but at the same time it was scarcely fair in
arranging retiring pensions to place them on a footing
with those who risked life and limb in the service, and
who at all times were required to perform arduous duties.
He found in looking to the provision made for them pre-
vious to last year, that their half-pay was only 12s. 6d.,
and by the warrant of last year it was raised
to 155., so they had received a certain benefit.
Ha did not mean by anything which he at present said,
to preclude him self at a future time from considering their
case further. With reference to the surgeons, their case
was more worthy of consideration, and he did not
mean Ito use the word in an invidious sense; they
were called upon to: perform most arduous services—
(Hear, hear)—and he was, therefore, inclined
to look with a more favourable eye upon their claims.
There was a general system of promotion among the
medical officers of the army already existing. and in his
opinion the subject brought forward by the Hon. and
Gallant Member was one which ought not to
be viewed apart from public considerations and
the finance of the mut* Purin the our" of