Topic: Pay; the Queen's shilling
Pay While a POW (1898)
The Quebec Saturday Budget, 26 March 1898
A correspondent writes to the Broad Arrow as follow:—
It will occasion surprise to learn that on Colour-Sergeant Walker, Royal Scots Fusiliers, rejoining his battalion, after being six weeks in the hands of the Afridis as a prisoner of war, he was tried by district court martial for absence without leave. He was of course acquitted, but was sentenced to lose his pay from the time he left his regiment. It may, however, be pointed out that the course adopted is in accordance with the regulations on the subject. Article 954 of the Royal Warrant says that:—A soldier shall not be entitled to pay during the period of his absence as a prisoner of war; but upon rejoining the service, due inquiry having been made into the circumstances of the man's imprisonment, the Secretary of State may restore the whole or any portion of the arrears of pay for the period of such absence. This course will undoubtedly be followed in the case of Colour-Sergeant Walker.
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