Mr. A. Guest, during this debate, put a favourite Army
objec- tion to the abolition of Purchase in a very neat form. He said that" every purchasing ensign paid the Government £450, the yearly interest upon which, at five per cent., would be £22 10s. He wished to know whether, after the abolition of purchase, every officer who had purchased his commission was to be placed in respect to pay in effect at a disadvantage of £22 10a. per annum until he left the service, as compared with officers who subsequently entered the service." The friends of purchase are always working that arithmetical juggle, which takes in a good many. The simple- answer is, that the purchase officer is to get what he purchased, and the non-purchasing officer is to get what he competed for. As a, matter of fact, the latter, having to educate himself, will lose- rather more interest than his rival who need know nothing.
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