These ranks being fixed and known, we can now compare the staff and civil branches of the army with them. The great advantage of “rank” to the civil branches is not merely the position, but the power of choosing quarters in garrison, cabins on board ship, &c., before officers who are junior in rank. No nominal rank allows any person except a regular officer to have any military command; thus, if an Ensign were on board ship with troops, as also an old Surgeon and Paymaster, the Ensign would command the troops, though the Surgeon and Paymaster both rank as Captains.
The following are the relative ranks of the Staff Officers named below:—
| Paymasters | Rank as Captains. |
| Surgeons | Rank as Captains. |
| Assistant-Surgeons | Rank as Lieutenants. |
| Veterinary Surgeons during the first ten years of their service | Rank as Cornets. |
| Ditto after ten years | Rank as Lieutenants. |
| Ditto after twenty years | Rank as Captains. |
| Quartermasters | Rank as Lieutenants. |
In the Medical Department there are various titles, each of which ranks according to the following list:—
COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT.
| Commissary-General | Ranks as Brigadier-General. |
| Deputy Commissary-General, if of three years’ standing | Ranks as Lieutenant-Colonel. |
| Ditto under three years’ standing | Ranks as Major. |
| Assistant Commissary-General | Ranks as Captain. |
| Deputy Assistant Commissary-General | Ranks as Lieutenant. |
| Deputy Clerks | Rank as Ensigns. |
WAR DEPARTMENT.
| Storekeepers, Barrackmasters of 1st Class | Rank as Majors. |
| Deputy Storekeepers, Barrackmasters, 2nd Class | Rank as Captains. |
| Barrackmasters of 3rd & 4th Class | Rank as Lieutenants. |
| Clerks | Rank as Ensigns. |
Chaplains attached to Brigades rank as Majors, whilst those attached to Regiments take rank as Captains.