NAVAL REFORM.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1513, 15 July 1905, Page 2

NAVAL REFORM.

Commander-in-Chief used to have a power —not conferred on "senior ollicers"—of making permanent promotions in the case of vacancies caused by death, and temporary promotions in the case of all others. IX was,' however, essential that the vacancy should have occurred within the limits of their command or station, and that the promoted officer should have been within those limits at the moment of tile occurrence. Also right to a flag officer's share of prize mon-ey and of "freight" for conveyance of treasure, depended upon the prize being taken and the treasure, in part at least, conveyed within the station boundaries. The legal necessity of exact delimitation still remains ; but owing to the abolition of the Com-mander-in-Chiel's right of promotion in "death vacancies" to the extreme rarity or non-orcnrrence of captures, and to the cessation of the practice of putting freight on board men-of-war for conveyance, the importance of fixed boundaries has diminished a good deal. There is now little, if any, practical difference between the authority of a Commander-in-Chief and that of a "senior officer." A Commander-in-Chief retains only one of his special prerogatives, and that is known to but few. He still lias a legal right to imprison a midshipman summarily. Of this prerogative I have never heard of any Commander-in-Chief availing himself.