Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/56

 CHAPTER III.

1. DATE OF RANK AND PAY.—Government make no allowance for passage out to India, nor does the' pay commence nor the service count till the arrival is reported to the town major at the presidency. The sooner, therefore, the officer gets on board ship the better. Another inducement is that the rank in the army is dated from the sailing of the ship, and a day or two lost at this period might greatly retard his promotion at a future time. When two or more officers embark in the same ship, their rank is regulated by the seniority of the director who presented the appointments.

2. PASSAGE.—Though most officers sail from the port of London, there is no objection to their sailing from any other port, as Liverpool, Glasgow, or Cork. There is now no inducement to make a long voyage of four or five months round the Cape of Good Hope, so much time being lost both as to service and pay. The passage money is so very little less, that even upon that score there is but little saved. I would