18
made which exceeds the amount of the officer's non-effective pay, or reduces his total emoluments including non-effective pay to less than 4002. per annum.
3. These rules will not apply to persons holding appointments in Her Majesty's household, or to salaries paid out of the revenues of foreign states, of India, or of Colonies which receive no contribution from Imperial funds.
4. Any statutory provisions necessary to give effect to these decisions shall be enacted.
Sin,
Enclosure 3 in No. 4.
War Office, December 8, 1885.
I AM directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th September last, and to acquaint you in reply that the Secretary of State for War concurs in all the recommendations of the Committee appointed to consider the rules for the receipt of naval or military non-effective pay with civil salary, &c.
1. That he accepts the Treasury decision for future deductions to be made from the salary of re-employment instead of from retired pay, and that no deductions need be made from salary which is not provided out of Imperial revenue.
2. That, inasmuch as it has not hitherto been found necessary to resort to legislative enactment as regards the issue of any permanent army non-effective pay to officers during re-employment, he does not appreciate the necessity for an Act of Parliament at the present time. The Appropriation Act only dealt with half-pay, which was temporary retirement, and is now provided for by a Royal Warrant, which prohibits its issue with civil salary. But should their Lordships retain their opinion that rules ought to be laid down by Parliament for all naval and military non-effective pay, as in the case of civil pensions, Mr. Secretary Smith would suggest that any legislative enactment which their Lordships may deem to be essential upon this subject should be sufficiently elastic to admit of a wide discretion being left in the hands of the Treasury.
3. That he considers that the proposed limit (4001) of combined salary and non- effective pay
is too low, and that it would be found to work inequitably, as evidenced by some of the 23 cases detailed in the enclosures hereof, in which officers who are, with Treasury approval, drawing the full salary under present regulations, would be subject to very unequal reductions were the rule referred to in the Treasury Minute to be adopted. The principal nominal rates of retired pay will be 2007, 250l., 300l., 4207, and 450%, and these rutes should be borne in mind in fixing the proposed rules.
Mr. Smith would suggest that before any further steps be taken for establishing these rules, the employing departments, such as the Home Office and Board of Trade, &c., should be consulted as to the probable working of them.
I am to add that these remarks, and the instructions to, and report of the Committee do not refer to cases in which retired pay has been earned partially in Colonial or civil employment, as such cases are provided for by Article 991 of the Pay Warrant, and, should any alteration be found accessary therein, it will form the subject of a separate communication to the Treasury.
The Secretary,
Her Majesty's Treasury, S.W.
I have, &c., (Signed) R. H. KNOX.
19
But my Lords would observe that the purpose of the proposed Act is to enforce an abatement from the civil salary of the re-employed officer, not to regulate the issue of his military or naval non-effective pay, which will continue to be governed by Royal Warrant or Order in Council as heretofore. The abatement in question is a matter that
rests between the Treasury and the re-employing department, and the Act is required to strengthen the hands of the Treasury.
2. The Secretary of State thinks that the terms of the Statute, if one be obtained, should be so clastic as to leave a wide discretion in the hands of the Treasury.
My Lords presume this refers to the proposed abatement of 507. per cent. of the civil salary (subject to certain modifications) as the minimum. They direct me to state that, on further consideration, they propose to fix the minimum at 10 per cent only.
3. The Secretary of State objects to 400% per annum in combined salary and non- effective pay as too low a limit for the exemption from abatement.
This limit was probably suggested by the income tax regulations, and was first applied to the present subject-matter in the report of Lord Lingen and Sir R. Thompson in 1879, in which the then Secretary of State for War concurred.
My Lords hope that the Secretary of State will not desire to raise it, if the minimum abatement be reduced as above suggested.
4. A table is annexed to the War Office letter for the purpose of showing the inequality with which the proposed system of abatement will work. But inequality of working must be the drawback of every fixed rule. My Lords are convinced that some rule must be fixed, and the only question is what it should be.
5. My Lords think it will be easier to arrive at an understanding with the employing departments after the proposed Act has been obtained.
6. My Lords are anxious that the Secretary of State should understand that they think it necessary to adhere to the conditions laid down in the Treasury letter of the 26th September, as modified in this letter. If they fail to obtain the adlierence of the Admiralty and the War Office to their conditions, they will not be able to proceed further, and the regulations will remain in that case as at present.
The Financial Secretary, War Office.
SIR,
Enclosure 5 in No. 4.
I am, &c.,
(Signed) M. W. RIDLEY.
Financial Secretary's Department, War Office, December 31, 1885.
WITH reference to your letter of the 17th instant, I am directed to request that you will state to the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury that the Secretary of State for War has no objection to offer to the conditions laid down with regard to the receipt of naval and military non-effective pay with civil salary, &c., in your letter of the 26th September last, as modified in the letter of the 17th instant above referred to.
The Secretary,
The Treasury, S.W.
I have, &c., (Signed)
II. T. DE LA BÈRE.
Enclosure 4 in No. 4.
Enclosure 6 in No. 4.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885/5
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
SIR,
Treasury Chambers, December 17, 1885.
THE Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had before them Mr. Knox's letter of the 8th instant, respecting the rules for the receipt of naval and military non-effective pay with civil salary, &c., and are glad to perceive that Mr. Secretary Smith agrees, to a very great extent, with the Treasury Minute of the 25th September last.
My Lords will briefly notice those points on which the Secretary of State differs from this Department.
1. He thinks the proposed Act of Parliament unnecessary, because it has hitherto been held sufficient to regulate the issue of permanent army non-effective pay by Royal Warrant instead of Statute.
Sm,
Admiralty, June 25, 1885. My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have had under their consideration your letter of the 6th November last, respecting the employment of Commander H. T. Wright, R.N., under the Queensland Government.
2. While my Lords admit that in principle there are objections to officers being allowed their half-pay at the same time that their service in the employment of a Colony is counting towards increase of pay, half-pay, and retirement in the Royal Navy, they much regret that the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, will not, where the Colonies are concerned, treat such instances as special cases.
3. For several weighty reasons, my Lords consider it a matter of the highest importance to encourage the employment of efficient naval officers in our Colonial
Davies.
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