HC Deb 19 April 1883 vol 278 cc629-30
MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, in order that the annuities to be granted by this House may have an exclusive connection with Lord Wolseley and Lord Alcester, Her Majesty's Government will consent to omit that portion of the proposal by which it is intended to settle the same annuity upon the unborn male heirs of those distinguished officers, and thereby to burden the Pension List, possibly for a century, with the charge of £4,000 a-year?

MR. GLADSTONE

I think, perhaps, I had better not now give any detailed answer to the Question, which rather belongs to the debate which will take place this evening. I may say, however, that it has always been the practice to give an hereditary character to these pensions, and we are not prepared to depart from the practice.