HC Deb 07 March 1890 vol 342 cc254-5
MR P.BADLAUGH (Northampton)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the case of Charles Sheard, who enlisted in the Royal Marine Artillery on the 15th July, 1884, who was invalided for debility after fever, and discharged on 11th July, 1888, but who remained in Haslar Hospital until finally discharged on 3rd December, 1889; whether Charles Sheard was awarded a pension of £9 2s. for nine months from 1st August, 1888; whether any portion of this pension has been paid to him, or whether the whole of the, pension has been stopped, on the ground that he was in Haslar Hospital from 6th July, 1888, to 3rd December, 1889; whether he was aware that Charles Sheard was discharged from hospital in a helpless and penniless condition; and, whether, under the circumstances, the pension of £9 2s. can be paid to this man?

* LORD G. HAMILTON

The Circumstances of the case are as stated in the question. Charles Sheard served in the Royal Marines for three years only, the disease for which he was invalided and finally discharged from the service being medically certified as "not attributable to the service." The sole pecuniary compensation payable for this short service is 6d. a day for nine months—about £7. When pensioners are admitted to hospital, or, as in the present ease, when they are already in hospital and are allowed to remain there after becoming pensioners, the pensions are checked as a contribution towards their maintenance. Sheard was permitted to remain in Haslar Hospital at considerable expense to the Crown for nearly a year and a half after he became a pensioner, and thus received in kind five or six times the small amount of compensation due to him. His present sad condition is much to be deplored, but the regulations governing the award of pensions and gratuities are precise on the subject, and do not admit of any further assistance being afforded.

MR. BRADLAUGH

Have the Admiralty power to make a grant in the nature of charity in a case of this kind?

* LORD G. HAMILTON

I am afraid that we have no power in this ease. Where it is proved that a man has become incapacitated from exceptional exposure, there is power to do so, but there is no power unless it is certified that the disease arose out of the service in which the man was engaged.

Mr. BRADLAUGH

Seeing that Sheard suffered from the climate of Kurrachee, will the noble Lord inquire into the case?

* LORD G. HAMILTON

I will make inquiries.