§ COLONEL ARBUTHNOTasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether he is aware that certain officers who retired from the Army on pensions under the provisions of the Royal Warrants of 1877 and 1878, and who now hold appointments in the Prison Department, are precluded from drawing any portion of their pensions; that one of these officers is actually drawing less income by £55 10s. per annum than he would be in receipt of if he drew his pension and were not serving the State; if he would state under what Clause of what Act the withholding of these Military pensions is justifiable; and, whether it is intended to place all retired Military and Naval officers who may be holding Civil appointments on the same footing as other Civil servants, viz. that they shall be permitted to draw their pensions until their Civil salaries amount to three times their pensions on half-pay?
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSONI am aware of the cases referred to by my hon. and gallant Friend. The withholding of the military pensions is in accordance with Clause 1,174 of the Royal Warrant of May 1, 1878; but, inasmuch as considerable dissatisfaction has been caused in several cases by the operation of that clause, it has been arranged by the Secretary of State for War that representatives of the War Office and Treasury should meet and discuss the conditions under which the clause shall be applied in future.