§ COLONEL BERESFORDasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that the only compensation awarded to the widow of Thomas West, who was employed as labourer in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, from 1864 to 1869, and died in the latter year from injuries received there whilst in the execution of his duty, and who, up to the time of his death, was in receipt of a pension of £29 4s. per annum for twenty-four years' service in the Royal Navy, and has left a widow and four children, was a sum of £15; whether it has not been the custom to allow pensions to widows under such circumstances to support their children; and, whether the Secretary of State for War will reconsider the case with a view to allowing the widow of the late Thomas West a pension in consideration of his long service in the Navy and the great loss she has sustained both by reason of her husband's death and the loss of his pension?
§ SIR HENRY STORKS, in reply, said, a gratuity of £15 was granted to the widow of Thomas West. It was the practice formerly of the Treasury to grant compassionate pensions to widows of hired men who had lost their lives in the service, but the Treasury had now altered the principle, and granted gratuities only. This individual case had been re-considered by the Secretary of State and by the Treasury, and it had been found impracticable to give any further relief. He might, perhaps, mention with regard to it that the head of the department in which West was employed reported as follows:—
I feel bound to state that the evidence as to the injury is not of a very decided or complete 1933 character, and it appears to me to fall short of what should be admitted to give to widows a special claim on the department.