ESTIMATED COST OF THE ABOLITION OF PURCHASE SCHEME.-The following Report by two Actuaries has been recently presented to Parliament. It may be useful for future reference, and therefore we print it.

Assuming the proposed Act for Abolishing Purchase in the Army to operate at its greatest probable cost (and therefore at its maximum rapidity), which assumption is equivalent to saying that officers are eager to sell out to as large a number as the Act permits, viz., the greatest number who have sold in each rank during either of the last five years:-Maximum number to sell

Assuming also that the prices to be paid for Commissions be the average amounts shown by Mr. Hammersly in his evidence before the Royal Commission on overregulation payments, viz. :

Rank.

Lieutenant-Colonel

Major

Captain

Lieutenant

Cornet and Ensign

Household

Assuming also that on retiring to full pay, or to permanent half pay, an officer shall receive the difference between the customary and the regulation prices of his Commission:

We find that the sums to be paid for extinguishing effective commissions. having a saleable value, will be at the maximum:-For the year 1871-72, £1,160,058; 1872, £1,017,501; 1873, £874,609; 1874, £763,782; 1875, £687,974; 1876, £608,214; 1877, £511,875: 1878, £393 732; 1879, £346,327; 1880, £305,422; 1881, £276,357; 1882, £252,015; 1883, £213,550; 1884, £159,918; 1885, £102.385; 1886, £55,900; 1887, £52,290; 1888, £48,210; 1889, £37,500; 1890, £34,140; 1891, £21,440; 1892, £21,270; 1893, £20,420; 1894, £19,400; 1895, £10,760; making a total sum of £7,995,067, made up as follows:--Household Cavalry, £263,863; Cavalry of Line, £1,714,569; Foot Guards, £791,650; Infantry and Colonial Corps, £5,224,985.

As regards the purchase of permanent half-pay commissions, we have assumed the sales as the maximum in each rank for each of the last five years, viz. :-6 lieutenant-colonels, 7 majors, and 3 captains; and the price we have taken as the difference between the regulation price of the commission and the sum the Commutation Board would give for the half-pay surrendered. On this basis, the cost up to 1895-96 would probably be £534,230.

The above is the proper maximum expenditure involved; and by way of probable minimum, we have assumed that the officers who in future will sell, will only bear to the officers able to sell the ratio they have borne during the last ten years. The cost, on this second hypothesis, for the year 1871-2 would be £857,756, and the total ultimate cost £7,578,646 (including purchase of half-pay commissions.) The Purchase System would not he entirely abolished until 1906-7. The true cost would, we imagine, lie between these extremes.—(Signed), DENHAM ROBINSON, ROBERT R. F. DAVEY. War Office, February, 1871.

[Note. The arrangement that a limited number of commissions may be bought from the temporary half-pay list will not cause an increase of charge over the foregoing amounts, inasmuch as the proposal in the schedule of the Bill reduces equally the number allowed to sell from full pay.-D. R., R. D.]

* In these rates is included a proportion for the difference between Cavalry and Infantry prices existing before 1861.

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OBITUARY.

Colonel John Edward Orange, on half pay. 34th Foot, and Staff Officer of Pensioners, died on Feb. 24, at Halifax, Yorkshire, aged 65. He entered the service, April, 1825; became Lieut., Oct., 1827; Capt., Dec., 1833; Major, Nov., 1846; Lieut. Col., June 1854; Col., Dec, 1858; and appointed Staff Officer of Pensioners, Feb., 1844. He served in the Burmese war in 1825, and had the Indian war medal for Ava.

Major Mark William Carr, of the Madras Staff Corps, and Assistant Inspector General of Madras Police, was drowned on Jan. 16, off Rutnagherry, from the steamship General Outram. He entered the service, Feb., 1850; became Lieut., Feb., 1854; Capt., Aug, 1861; and Major, Feb., 1870.

Captain Stephen Croft, late of the 68th Foot, died on Feb. 28, at Stillington Hall, Yorkshire, aged 43.、

Commander Henry Coode (Retired List P) died on the 9th of March at 24 Hugh Street, Pimlico, aged 73. He entered the Navy, Aug. 17, 1812, as 1st-class volunteer, on board the Cornwall, and, until the conclusion of the war, was employed in that ship, and as Midshipman, in the Inconstant, in blockading Flushing, the Texel, and Brest, and in protecting the trade on the coast of Brazil. He afterwards served on the West India, Home, and Mediterranean stations, part of the time as Admiralty Mate (he passed his examination, June 2, 1819), in the Antelope, Brisk, Pyramus, and Spartiate. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Aug. 26, 1829, in the Mosquito on the Mediterranean station; he returned home, and was paid off at the close of 1830; and for a short time in 1835-6 he was employed in the Rodney, and as 1st Lieutenant in the Nimrod. He was placed on the Reserved List in July, 1851, and attained his late rank in 1864.

Assistant-Surgeon James Sarsfield Barry, 1854, of H.M.S. Teazer, died of consumption at the Military Hospital, Bombay, on Feb. 2, aged 37 years.

Captain St. George Lowther, late of the 69th Foot, died on March 10, at Redland, near Clifton.

Captain John Janson Howard, late of the 2nd Warwick Militia, died March 11, at Whilhethood Park, Shirley, Southampton, aged 40.

Captain Alexander Brodie Melville, of the Bengal Staff Corps, died on March 2, at Mymensing, Bengal. He entered the service, Dec., 1852; became Lieut., Aug., 1856; and Capt., Dec., 1864.

Deputy Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets John Sloan, M.D. (Retired) List), died on Feb. 19, at Mount Edgecumbe Terrace, Stoke, Devonport, aged 62.

Commander Thomas C. Ponsonby (Retired List), died on Feb. 26, at Southampton.

Commander John Cornish (Retired List), died at Fowey on Feb. 24, aged 74 years.

STATIONS OF THE ROYAL NAVY IN COMMISSION.

(Corrected to March 27.)

With the Dates of Commission of the officers in Command.

Aboukir, 86, sc., Comdre. R. W.
Courtenay, 1859, Jamaica
Achilles, 2, Capt. R. V. Hamilton,
1862, Portland

Agincourt, 28, Capt. H. H. Beamish,.
1864, Rear Admiral R. P. E. Wil

mot, C.B. Channel Squadron
Algerine, 3, Lieut.-commander Grey,
China

Antelope. 2, Lieut.-Com. Charles S. P.
Woodruffe, 1860, Malta

Asia, Capt. Edward B. Rice, 1855,

Flag of Rear-Adl. Loring, C.B.,
Guard Ship of Reserve, Portsmouth
Audacious, 14, Capt. D. Spain, 1862,
Kingstown

Avon, 4, Com. R. E. Tracey, 1864, China
Barrosa, 17, Capt. L. J. Moore, 1863,
China

Basilisk, 6, pad, Capt. J. Moresby, 1864,
Australia

Beacon, 4, double sc, Com. T. S.

Gooch, 1864, Brazils

Black Prince, 28, Capt. A. C. Gordon,

1858, Greenock

Blanche, 6, sc., Capt. J. E. Montgomerie
1962, Australia

Boscawen, 20, Com J. Grant, 1866,

Training Ship, Portland

Boxer, 4, Lieut.-com. F. W. Egerton,

1859, Pacific
Brilliant, 16. Com. W. H. Pym, 1861,

Naval Reserve Drill Ship, Dundee,
Bristol, 31, Capt. the Hon. Walter C.

Carpenter, 1866, Portsmouth
Britannia, 8, Cadet Training Ship.

Capt. J. Corbett, 1857, Dartmouth
Britomart, 2, Lieut.-Com. Basil E. Coch-

rane, 1860, N. America and W. Indie
Bullfinch, 3, Com. E. F. Lodder, 1863,
East Indies

Buzzard, 2, pad., Staff Com. A. Brown,
1867, Channel Service
Cadmus. 16, Capt. W. H. Whyte, 1864
Flying Squadron

Caledonia. 30, Capt. T. Cochran, 1857,
Mediterranean

Cambridge, gunnery ship, Capt. Hon.

F. A. C. Foley, 1860, Devonport
Cameleon, 7, sc., Com. J. H. Hatchard,
1864, Pacific
Castor, 18, Commander W. A. Smyth,
1863, Drill Ship, North Shields
Chanticleer, 7, sc. Com. W. W. Bridges
Pacific

Charybdis, 18, sc., Capt. A. M. L.
Lyons, 1862, Pacific, ordered home
Cherub, 2, Lieut.-Com. N. S. Digby,
1861, North America and West
Indies.

Clio, 18, Commodore. F. H. Stirling,
1860, Australia

Clyde, 16, Com. Hon. H. Chetwynd,
1862, Aberdeen

Cockatrice, 2, sc., Com. J. F. Prowse,

1866, Mediterranean
Cockchafer, 2, sc., gunboat, Lieut.

Com. S. S. Smith, 1861, China
Columbine, 3, Com. J. C. Tucker, 1866,
East Indies

Cossack, 16, Capt. John E. Parish,
1863, East Indies

Cracker, 2, Com. R. P. Dennistoun,
1865, Brazils

Crocodile, 2, Capt. G. H. Parkin, 1866,
Indian Troop Service

Curlew, 3,

Dædalus 16 Com. E. T. Parsons, 1866,
Naval Reserve Drill ship, Bristol
Danae, 6, sc., Capt. W. Graham, 1863,
N. America and W. Indies

Dasher. 2, st. ves., Com. W. F. Johnson,
1865, Channel Islands

Dee, 1, Staff.com. G. A. Waters, 1863,
Channel Service

Defence, 16, Capt. N. Salmon, 1869,
Mediterranean

Dove, 2, Lieut J. G. Jones, 1865, China
Druid, 10,
Sheerness
Dryad, 4, Com. G. Parsons, 1865,
Malta

Duke of Wellington, 49, Capt. G. Han-

cock, 1855, Admiral Sir J. Hope,
G.C.B., Portsmouth
Durham, 20, Com. W. A. Cambier,
1865, Sunderland

Dwarf, sc., Com. C. F. Walker, China
Eagle, 50, Com. Guy O. Twiss, 1866

Naval Reserve Drill Ship, Liverpl.
Eclipse, 6, Capt. A. H. Hoskins, 1863,

North America and West Indies
Egmont, receiving ship, Capt. W. A. R.

Pearse, 1862, Rio de Janeiro
Elk. 4, Com. A. G. Wootton, 1864, China
Enchantress, 1, st. Admiralty Yacht,
Staff-com. Kerr, Portsmouth
Enterprise, 4, Com. G D. Morant,
1866, Mediterranean

Euphrates, 2, Capt C. T Curme, 1864,
Troop service. India

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U. S. MAG. No. 509, APRIL, 1871.