Sir ROBERT YOUNG:

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the pensions to he paid to men of the Royal Navy who have already served from 12 to 20 years will be based on the new rates of pay or whether adjustments will be made so that pensions will be paid on the basis of the rates of pay paid to them, over the period of their qualifying service for pension?

The reports received from the committees presided over by the Commanders-in-Chief as well as representations made by Commanders-in-Chief on foreign stations are now under consideration, and I hope to be able to issue a Fleet Order on this subject at a very early date.

Sir R. YOUNG:

Are we to understand that this is to apply on the subject of the pension?

Covering the whole of the matters which we have reviewed as a result of the inquiry.

Will the right hon. Gentleman remember that the police force have been informed that under the new cuts pensions will not be cut, and will he see that the same principle applies to men in the Navy?

I am not prepared really to make any statement as regards any changes that may be made in orders issued to the Fleet except in the form of a Fleet Order which goes to the Fleet first. Part of the trouble is that the men did not receive in the first instance their information in the proper Service way, and I want to avoid any trouble of that kind in the future. The question of police pensions has not escaped my attention.