§ CAPTAIN DAWSON-DAMERsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether William Blatcher (the man alluded to by him as having died from injuries received on duty at the crossing where now stands the semaphore) was kept on full pay for eighteen months and pensioned three weeks before he died, thus depriving his widow of the penny subscription of the force, amounting to over £30; whether, on the widow's application to the then Commissioner, Sir Richard Mayne, she was refused the usual allowance for widows and children on the ground that the man did not die in the service; and, whether the present Chief Commissioner would reconsider the case on behalf of the widow and four fatherless children?
MR. BRUCEThe circumstances, Sir, of this poor man's case are not exactly those which have been mentioned by the hon. and gallant Gentleman. Blatcher had been in the police force since 1847. In May, 1866, he was knocked down by a gentleman's carriage and received severe injuries, in consequence of which he remained on the sick list till August, 1867, when he was dismissed with a pension of £32 a year. In the following October he entered Guy's Hospital as a patient, and died there in the course of a few days. The surgeons certified that he died of disease of the liver, but they refused to say that his death was caused by the accident which had occurred about sixteen months before. Under these circumstances Sir Richard Mayne did not consider himself justified by the regulations of the force in recommending the widow to the Secretary of State as a person who was entitled to a pension. 1656 Under those regulations the Secretary of State was empowered to grant a pension to the widow whenever a police officer died either immediately or ultimately, in consequence of injuries received while in the execution of his duty. As, however, a strong opinion existed among those who knew Blatcher that his death was accelerated by the accident, fresh inquiries shall be made on the subject, and if I am satisfied that such was the fact, I shall be happy to re-consider the case.