THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 237

35. Her Majesty's Government consider this ques-
    tion to have been finally settled by the report of Lord
    Cranworth's Commission, and they decline to re-open
    it. They are, however, not only ready to apply in all
    cases a remedy to acknowledged grievances, but they
    are most desirous to remove every reasonable ground
    of complaint on the part of the Officers of the Army.

36. Although, therefore, Her Majesty's Govern-
    ment are convinced that the substantial interests of
    the Army at large have been, in many respects,
    materially advanced by the several measures that
    have been introduced since 1860, they have, never-
    theless, determined to adopt, as far as practicable,
    those recommendations of Sir John Aitchison's Com-
    mission which are not inconsistent with the opinions
    expressed by the former Commission.

37. In accordance with this determination, I have
    to communicate to your Excellency the sanction
    of Her Majesty's Government to the following
    measures:-
    (1.) The promotions in the Presidencies of
    Madras and Bombay, made under paragraph
    52 and 80 of Sir Charles Wood's Despatch of
    the 17th June, 1864, with those made in
    succession thereto, are to have retrospective
    effect given to them from the 1st January,
    1862, viz.,-

Madras, Lieut.-Colonels
Bombay, ditto.

Cavalry. Infantry.
1 4
0 3

(2.) From and after the date of receipt of this
Despatch, all Officers of Cavalry and Infantry
of the Indian Army, who attained the rank of
regimental Lieutenant-Colonel prior to the 1st
January, 1862, and all Officers of the several
Staff Corps who had attained to the rank of
regiment Lieutenant-Colonel prior to the for-
mation of those Corps, viz., 18th February,
1861, shall, upon the completion of ten years
in that grade, be placed in receipt of the
Colonel's allowance. Lieutenant Colonels
now on the list, who may have been already
more than ten years in that grade, will be
granted the Colonel's allowance from the date
of receipt of this Dsspatch.
(3.) The Military retiring regulations of 1837
will be extended by the addition of the two
following rates of pension :-

After 35 years' service
After 38 years' service

Per Annum.
£600
£750

38. Her Majesty's Government have very carefully
    considered the conclusion at which the
    5th Point. Commission has arrived upon the 5th
    and last point, viz., the sufficiency of the measures
    adopted with a view of remedying that supersession
    of regimental Officers of the Indian Army by their
    brother Officers in the Staff Corps, respecting which
    Lord Cranworth's Commission reported that, in their
    opinion, the Parliamentary assurance had not been
    adhered to; but they regret that they cannot admit
    the soundness of that conclusion, which is, in one
    very important particular, at variance with the
    opinion expressed by Lord Cranworth's Commission,
    while the measures suggested by them, in connexion
    with this point, are open to most serious objections.

39. In alluding to the complaint of supersession,
    Para 42. as follows:-
    Lord Cranworth's Commission stated

"What the Officers complain of on this head is,
the immediate and prospective supersession in rank
of regimental Officers by those in the Staff Corps,
which was the inevitable consequence of the rules
regulating promotion in the Staff Corps, and especially
of that which allows previous staff service to count
towards the period of service qualifying for promo-
tion in the Staff Corps."

Para 65. 40. The present Commission say-

"The main ground of that grievance we consider
to be the regimental connexion between the local Line
and the Staff Corps, by the retention of the names of
Staff Corps Officers on the cadres of regiments, and
also by the retention on the old European regimental
cadres of the names of those Officers who have been
transferred to the new Line regiments."

Para 39. 41. Lord Cranworth's Commission recorded a
deliberate opinion that, so far as pro-
motion was concerned, the retention
upon the cadres of their old regiment of the names of
Officers transferred to the Staff Corps is not, prac-
tically, a departure from the assurance given by
Parliament that Indian Officers should, on the transfer
of the local Army to the Crown, retain all their pre-
vious advantages.

42. The last Commission have expressed an opinion,
    on the other hand, that the recent
    measures introduced with a view of
    Para 72.
    remedying the supersession complained of have not
    becu effectual and sufficient, because of the non-
    removal of these names.

43. Her Majesty's Government feel satisfied that
    the plan adopted of retaining the names of Officers
    nominated to the Staff Corps on the cadres of their
    regiment, with a view of regulating promotion, sanc-
    tioned as it was in the first instance by the opinion of
    the Law Officers of the Crown, and subsequently con-
    firmed by the judgment of the Commission over
    which Lord Cranworth presided, was well calculated
    to secure to the Officers under the contemplated
    changes that uniform system of regimental promotion,
    in all its integrity, which they had been accustomed
    to look forward to.

44. The removal from the general regimental list
    of the Army of the names of Staff Corps Officers, and
    of those who joined the new line regiments, upon
    their attaining to the position of Lieutenant-Colonel
    -a boon to the Army unattended with any of the
    inconveniences that would attend the removal of
    the names from the regimental cadres-has been
    already sanctioned; but Her Majesty's Govern-
    ment do not consider it either just or expedient to
    attempt any further interference with a system which
    was adopted upon a careful consideration of the
    interests involved, and which has received the
    approval of high legal and other authority.

45. Moreover, any attempt to carry out at the
    present time the removal of those names, in the
    manner implied in the concluding paragraph of the
    Commissioner's report, would be attended with the
    greatest embarrassment, and could not possibly be
    effected without far greater disturbance in the relative
    position of the Officers of the several branches of the
    Army than has yet arisen from all the changes in its
    organization that have been effected during the last
    five years.

46. There remains, therefore, to be considered, as
    the only direct objection made by the Commission to
    the system of brevet rank established under Sir C.
    Wood's despatch of the 17th June, 1864, with a view
    to remedying the supersession complained of-the
    "disturbing effect" of that measure.

47. It is well known that the supersession com-
    plained of, in the first instance, as an interference
    with the usage of the service, was that of officers of
    the Indian Army by their juniors in the same cadre,
    on the latter being admitted and promoted to a higher
    grade in the Staff Corps.

48. This supersession has been rectified by the
    brevet arrangement referred to, inasmuch as, under
    the peculiar constitution of the Indian Army, it is
    now impossible, save in rare and exceptional cases,
    that an Officer can be superseded in Army rank by
    another Officer of his own cadre; upon this subject