548 ON THE ARMY VETERINARY DEPARTMENT. 
out to him in the end. Now, it should be observed, we have no 
promotion to expect, as in the reg'ular medical department, where 
a man may rise in rank or pay equal to a general officer. We 
have nothing of this kind to look to; we are placed at the bot¬ 
tom of the list at the commencement, and there we are fated to 
remain to the end of the chapter: a graduated increase of pay, 
and a decent retired allowance, are, therefore, the only boons we 
have to look forward to; these are the only beacons we can ex¬ 
pect to find to light and to cheer us on our solitary way. 
By the former regulation, a veterinary surgeon had not only 
the unqualified option of retiring on his half-pay at tw enty years’ 
service, but after thirty years he w as allowed to retire upon any 
portion of his pay that the Treasury Board might think fit, “ not 
less than tw elve shillings a da}? 1 ’ This left a discretionary two 
shillings for particular cases, either for those of ill health, or as 
a reward for meritorious service. A retired allowance, therefore,, 
of tw elve shillings per diem w r as, according to the former war¬ 
rant, the minimum of rew r ard for thirty years’ service ; whilst, ac¬ 
cording to the new regulation, it w ill be found to be the maximum. 
For this appears to make no reserve for cases of ill health, or for 
special circumstances of merit. 
But, according to the new warrant, a veterinary surgeon has 
the liberty to retire at twenty-five years’ service, with the addition 
of one shilling to his half-pay; that is to say, upon eight shil¬ 
lings a day. Now who, I would ask, can think this a liberal 
rew ard for a quarter of a century spent in close application to a 
serious duty, or be inclined to retire upon this pittance, when, by 
sacrificing five more years of life, now’ most likely scarcely fit for 
any thing else, he will be entitled to receive twelve shillings a 
day? Whereas a paymaster, an officer placed exactly in the 
same predicament as ourselves, with regard to promotion, has 
f >ermission to retire, after twenty years’ service, upon ten shil- 
ings, or has his pay increased, at the end of that period, to twenty 
shillings a day. I mean not to under-rate the services of a pay¬ 
master ; but I cannot help thinking that this, in a comparative 
point of view', is scarcely fair. And as to the quantum of duty to 
be performed: the continued application, and the attention re¬ 
quired, his appointment, it must be confessed, is a perfect sine¬ 
cure when compared with ours. 
Thus, then, I say, it does appear evident from the late altera¬ 
tions in the warrant “ regulating and consolidating the pay and 
allowance of officers,” that w^e have absolutely lost ground; 
that w r e have sunk and descended in the scale, and that, too, in 
both a positive and comparative point of view. 
I do not mean to impute blame to those who had the draw ing 
