§ LORD CHARLES BERESFORD (Marylebone, E.)asked the hon. Member for the Knutsford Division of Cheshire, Whether he will state the old scale of compensation for the widows of those men of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade who are killed in the execution of their duty, and, also, the new scale of pensions in similar cases; and, whether, considering the extremely arduous and gallant duties of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the Board of Works will take into consideration the question of increasing the pensions in these cases?
§ MR. TATTON EGERTON (Cheshire, Knutsford), in reply, said, that until recently there was no scale of pensions for widows of firemen killed while in the execution of their duty. It had always been the practice of the Metropolitan Board of Works to give annuities to such widows; but there had been no fixed scale. The Board had, on several occasions, voted annuities of large amounts far beyond anything of the kind given in any other Department of the Public Service. Last year the Board came to the conclusion that there ought to be a regular fixed scale. Having ascertained from the Lords of the Admiralty and other Public Authorities the scale of annuities for widows which prevailed in their Departments, the Board determined to adopt for the Fire Brigade the most liberal of those scales—namely, that of the Metropolitan Police. The pensions of the men were already in accordance with the police scale; and it was thought desirable to follow the same principle with regard to the widows and children.