§ CAPTAIN PRICE (Devonport)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, If he will lay upon the Table of the House, a Copy of any Regulations and Orders in Council affecting the pensions granted to the widows of retired navigating officers on the Superannuated List from 1861 till 1886; whether any diminution was made in the amount of these pensions; and, by whose authority or recommendation was it made; and for what reason?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)There have been no Regulations in regard to pensions of widows of navigating officers beyond those contained in the Orders in Council dated 28th February, 1855, 22nd February, 1860, 26th June, 1867, and 22nd February, 1870. No diminution has been made in the pensions sanctioned by these Orders in Council to widows of retired navigating officers, though it is the case that previous to 1880 an erroneous calculation of the time of certain officers, and which it proved could not be borne out by the terms of the Orders in Council, led to their widows being awarded a higher scale of pension than they were legally entitled to, and for the payment and legislation of which a special Order in Council had to be obtained. This Order in Council only governed past cases, and did not establish a prospective claim.