§ MR. LENGI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can now state if it has been decided to appropriate the interest of the large sum of soldiers' unclaimed prize money for the relief of sick and infirm but unpensioned veterans who served in the Crimean War?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. E. STANHOPE,Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The number of troops in the Crimea before the close of the war (excluding large numbers wounded and invalided) was 52,000. A large proportion of these had enlisted for only three years' service, and returned to civil life upwards of 30 years ago. If the claims of all men who served in the Crimea and are now infirm were recognised by the State—and it would be difficult to draw any distinctions—the charge would be an exceedingly heavy one, and would amount in one year to more than the whole amount of Army prize money. It would, moreover, be impossible to exclude men who served in the Indian Mutiny. Consequently, 1 do not at present see my way clear to a scheme for specially pensioning Crimean soldiers.