THE ABOLITION OF ARMY PURCHASE AND ITS COST.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 17, 20 May 1871, Page 17

THE ABOLITION OF ARMY PURCHASE AND ITS COST.

The opinion which appears to he commonly held regarding the purchase question, that the effect of the proposed abolition will be to preserve all existing rights, is mistaken, says the “ Army and Navy Gazette,” on one important point. The interests of the sellers are no doubt unaffected. A man who wants to sell out can still obtain as much as before, the only difference being that he will receive the money from the State instead of from the officer who succeeds him ; but the body of intending purchasers will now be in an altered position. Men who before the change were virtually seniors of their respective grades because first for purchase will now find themselves re duced to their actual position in the seniority list, with no preferential claim to promotion. The non-purchase men will of course gain what the others lose. This, however, is an element of gain and loss which cannot well be taken into account in settling compensation, and should any officers have entertained the. idea of viewing the matter as. a grievance, they should remember that precisely ths same sort of change in the relative positions of officers takes place when a regiment goes on active service. Selling out then stops, and the only steps that occur are from deaths. And what takes place during a state of war is clearly a legitimate condition for any army in time of peace. —On this subject the “Pall Mall Gazette” says, the gravest anxiety has been occasioned among the officer s of the army by those clauses of Mr Cardwell’s Bill which deal with the question of the abolition of purchase. This anxiety is not confined to those who are opposed to the abolition of purchase. On the contrary, it is just as much felt by those who are in favor of abolition as by those who are against it. The fact is, that the subject is a far more intricate one, and touches many more interests, than are dreamt of in Mr Cardwell’s philosophy. The position of the officers of the army in relation to this subject is a peculiarly unfortunate one. The regulations of the service forbid them from organizing a combined opposition to a measure which strikes at their pecuniary interests. They cannot combine; they cannot address their superiors in a body. They can, in fact, take no action to expose the injustice which they consider this bili, if passed in its present state, will inflict upon them. Add to this, that there are probably not half a dozen members of the two Houses of Parliament who really understand the intricacies of one of the most complicated problems which could have been presented for solution, and we have ample explanation of the bitter feeling of impotent indignation with which the possible passing of this bill is looked forward to by those whom it most nearly affects. A report by Messrs Eobinson and Davev, actuaries, which has been laid before Parliament, states the greatest possible cost of abolishing purchase in the army as follows :—For extinguishing effective commissions having a saleable value, £7,995,067; the amount required, decreasing gradually from £1,160,058 in the year 1871-79, to £976,375 in 1881-89, £91,440 in 1891-99, and £10,760 in 1895-96 ; and for the purchase of half-pay permanent commissions the cost up to 1895-96 would probably be £534,230. This is assuming the. act to operate at its maximum rapidity; in other words, that officers are eager to sell out to as large an extent as the act permits viz , the greatest number who have sold in each rank during any one of the last five years. The minimum expenditure is estimated by assuming that the officers who in future will sell will only bear .to the officers able to sell the ratio they have borne during the last ten years the cost on this hypothesis for the year 1871-79 would be £857,756, and the total ultimate cost, including the purchase of half-pay commissions, would be £7,578,646. The purchase system would not be entirely abolished until 1906. The actuaries observe that the true cost lies, they imagine, between these extremes.