§ MR. MOLLOY (for Mr. SEXTON)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he will consider the case of Roderick Mannion, late private in Her Majesty's Army, who served for a period of twelve years in the 14th and 26th Regiments of the Line, and a period of three years in the New Zealand Militia, and who, on his retirement, was entitled by the terms of his engagement to a gratuity and sixty acres of land in New Zealand, or the equivalent in money, £120; and, whether he is aware that Roderick Mannion never received either the gratuity on retirement, the land, or the equivalent of the land in money, and that he has returned from New Zealand to England in order to urge his claim, and is now in a state of need?
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, in reply to the Question of the hon. Member, I have to state that I have perused the papers on the subject, and the case is as follows: —Roderick Mannion was discharged from the 2nd Battalion 14th Foot in April, 1866. He was entitled to a gratuity of £9 2s. 6d., and, according to the papers retained in the Office, was duly paid. His actual receipt was, in accordance, with custom, destroyed some years ago. In April, 1879, or some 13 years after he was paid, he applied again for payment, and was refused. It would be impossible after 16 years to entertain a claim of this character more than any application for repayment of an account. Some months after he claimed the gratuity, he wrote again saying he was entitled to 60 acres of land in New Zealand. Between 1866 and 1879 he appears 1687 to have been living in New Zealand, and had ample opportunity of applying to the Colonial Government. The War Office has nothing to do with grants of land in New Zealand, and Mannion was told that he must apply to the Colonial authorities.