asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty the number of engineer officers of the ranks of commander and lieutenant - commander, respectively, who have applied for permission to retire since December, 1945, before reaching the normal age limit; and the number of such applications which have been refused.

Mr. Dugdale:

Three engineer officers of commander's rank and three of lieutenant-commander's rank have applied for permission to retire before reaching the normal retiring ages since December, 1945. One of these, a commander, was allowed to retire. The requirements of the Service prevented compliance with the requests in the other five cases.