16 AUGUST 1919, Page 3

We are not surprised to hear that the junior officers

in the Navy do not like having their modest pay reduced, while all the senior officers and all the men have had their pay considerably increased. A correspondent illustrates this unfortunate anomaly from the case of a Lieutenant of over two years' standing who is " Number One " in a destroyer. His pay before the Admiralty adopted the new scale was 20s. 6d. a day. It is now 18s. 6d. He thus loses two shillings a day. Further, he will have to pay Income Tax after this year at the full civilian rate instead of at the special- service rate. We cannot think that the Admiralty meant to penalize the large class of junior officers who have done splendid work during the war. We feel sure that they are suffering through an oversight which will be corrected before long. The sternest economist would not wish to curtail expenditure by cutting down the pay of naval Lieutenants.