RESERVE FORCE OF ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEERS.
Her Majesty's Government having, with the sanction of Parliament, determined on establishing a Reserve Volunteer Force of seamen trained to the use of arms, this is to give notice, that any seaman possessing the following qualifications may be enrolled as a royal naval volunteer in the Reserve Force, and will thereupon be entitled to the advantages and be subject to the obligations mentioned below :
Qualifications for the Reserve.
1. A volunteer must be a British subject. 2. He must be free from infirmity. 3. He must not be over thirty-five years of age. 4. He must within the ten years previous to his joining the Reserve have been five years at sea, one year of that time as an A.B. Advantages of the Reserve.
1. A volunteer will at once receive an annual payment or retainer of 6/., payable quarterly. 2. He will, if he fulfils his obligations and is in the Reserve the requisite time, receive a pension of not less than 12/. a year whenever he becomes
incapacitated from earning a livelihood, or at Witty years of age if not pre- viou4rampacitated. S. voly elect either to take the whole pension himself, or to take a smallerpeasion for himself during his life, and to allow his wife a pension after hisaleath, for the remainder of her life.
4. lie will not, on account of belonging to the =Reserve, forfeit any in- terest in any Friendly or Benefit Society. 5. His travelling expenses to and from the place of drill will, when ne- cessary, be provided. 6. He will, during drill, receive, in addition to the retaining fee, the same pay, victualling, and allowances as a seaman of the fleet.
7. He will, if called out on actual service, receive the same pay, al- lowances, and victuals, and have the same prospect of premotion and prize money, as a continuous service seaman of the fleet, and he will an joining receive the same clothing, bedding, and mess traps.
8. He will, if wounded or injured in actual service, receive the same pension as a seaman in the Navy of the same rating. 9. He will be eligible to the Coast Guard service and Greenwich Hospital.
10. He may quit the Reserve, if not at the time called out for actual service, at the end of every five years ; he may also quit it, when not called out, on paying back the retainers he has received ; or, without payment, if he passes an examination as a master or mate, and obtains bona fide employ- ment as master or mate.
Obligations of the Reserve.
1. A volunteer must attend drill for twenty-eight days each year ; he may do so, so far as the convenience of the public service will permit, at a time and place convenient to himself; but he cannot in any case take less than seven days' drill at any one time.
2. He must not, without special permission, proceed on a voyage that will occupy_ more than six months. 3. He must appear before some shipping master once in every six months, unless he has leave to be abroad longer, and he must report every change of residence and employment. 4. In order to earn a pension he must continue in the Reserve as long as he is physically competent to serve, and he must also have been in the force fifteen years if engaged above thirty, or twenty years if engaged under thirty. In reckoning this time actual service in the fleet will count double.
5. Volunteers may be called upon for actual service in the Navy by royal proclamation. It is intended to exercise this power only when an emergency requires a sudden increase in the naval force of the country. 6. A volunteer may in the first instance be called out for three years. If there is then actual war, and he is then serving in one of her Majesty's ships, he may be required to serve for two years longer ; but for the ad- ditional two years he will receive 2d. a day additional pay. 7. Volunteers when on drill or actual service will be subject to naval discipline.
8. A volunteer who fails to fulfil the obligations of the Reserve will forfeit his claim to retainer and pension, and if he fails to join when called out for actual service may be treated as a straggler or deserter from the Navy. The enrolment will commence on January 1, 1860. Full information and detailed conditions may be obtained on application to the shipping master at any port in the 'United Kingdom, or to the officers of customs in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.—Official Statement.
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