§ MR. SEXTONasked the Secretary of State for War, If his attention has been drawn to the following statement in a letter from the Rev. F. W. Taylor, Chaplain of Maidstone Union, to the editor of the "Times":—
I speak from experience, and information, that on a low average the number of children unlawfully begotten by soldiers would be four in each 500 unions out of 632, thus giving a population of 2,000 illegitimate children annually, for the maintenance of which neither the mothers nor the ratepayers have any redress;and, whether the Government will make any proposal to remedy the state of things described?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONThe writer of the letter in The Times would seem to have been unaware of a fact, which is no doubt well-known to the hon. Member, that, under the Army Act, a soldier is liable to a payment of 1s. 9d. a-week for the maintenance of an illegitimate child, and that in cases where the paternity is properly established, this payment is always enforced. After full consideration, it was decided that 3d. a-day was the utmost that a soldier's pay could bear.