THE BRITISH ARMY OFFICER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23103, 30 July 1938, Page 12

THE BRITISH ARMY OFFICER

The Important changes just made in the pay and conditions of the British army officer were dictated in the main by two circumstances; and those two wrre interlocked. The first was that (he supply of candidates for commissions, by the ordinary routes, was woefully deficient, the second was that, with a few notable exceptions, the regular officer had come to depend on the army for the whole of his livelihood both while serving and after retirement. Consequently both the pay of juniors and the rate of promotion are of much more concern than they used to be. The new method of making promotion to higher ranks, up to that of major, come automatically instead of depending on the hazard of vacancies occurring should meet a real difficulty. It grew with the increase of those who had no resources but their pay, because senior officers naturally served as long as the regulations permitted and thus the avenue of advancement was blocked for their juniors. One of the grievances. indeed the real hardships, was the risk of being retired with the rank of captain, a meagre pension, and possibly a young and heavily dependent family. All these things had been emphasised by various inquiries into service conditions during recent years, but only now has the adjustment come. By making the army more attractive as a career it should help to meet the shortage of junior officers. The liberalised facilities for promotion from warrant and non-commissioned to commissioned rank should also have an important share in solving the problem. To the officer so created the improved conditions should be especially valuable. The whole system as just introduced should do much for the regular army.