The Select Committee on Promotion and Retirement in the Navy
has not accomplished much. They were asked to devise a plan by which the claims of service could be met, yet the most efficient raised most rapidly ; but they have not done it.. On the eontrary, they adhere to the present system under which officers from cadetship to captaincy are selected, but rise by seniority from captain to admiral. This plan gives us none but old admirals, the Queen's prerogative being rarely used, and the only alternative, :selection for all grades, soon degenerating into favouritism. Might not the Indian Staff Service afford a precedent? Under that .system every captain, whether promoted or no, would have so much additional pay for every additional year of service, while the Admiralty would select the men it wanted for work—a plan which makes the service content, while leaving to individual capacity its full use.
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