§ SIR HENRY HAVELOCKasked the Vice President of the Council, Whether his attention has been drawn to a statement, which has appeared in several newspapers, that a sum of £51,000 was, during the Peninsular war, given by Lloyds' Patriotic Fund to be appropriated for the benefit of the families of deceased soldiers and sailors; that the accumulations of this fund now amount to £430,000, which is said to be under the administration of the Charity Commissioners; and, whether the facts are in any way as above represented; and, if so, whether this fund can be made available for the relief of the families of those soldiers lately killed in South Africa and Afghanistan?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTON, in reply, said, he had communicated with the Charity Commissioners on the subject, and it appeared that this sum of not £430,000,but £74,600, in Reduced Three per Cent Annuities, stood in the names of "the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds" in trust for "Lloyds' Patriotic Fund," the dividends of which were to be administered in accordance with the provisions of the scheme established by order of the Board of Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, dated the 28th day of May, 1875. Those dividends, amounting to £1,119, were applicable, after certain other charges, in the discretion of the Trustees to the payment of annuities to the persons mentioned in section 17 of that scheme, the opening words of which provided that the income from the capital fund 571 should be applied by the Trustees in their discretion in granting annuities and other pecuniary assistance to soldiers, seamen, and marines, officers and men, and to their widows, orphans, and dependents, having especial regard to sufferings and losses in action. He thought, therefore, that the best course for the hon. and gallant Gentleman would be to open communications with the Charity Commissioners, and ascertain from them whether any of this money could be applied to the relief of the families of those soldiers lately killed in South Africa and Afghanistan.