§ MR. BOORD (Greenwich)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that Greenwich 606 Hospital was, under an Act of 1869, let temporarily at a nominal rent of £100 a year and repairs; and whether he will consider if the temporary arrangement should now be replaced by letting the property at a fair rent, so that more pensioners could receive their pensions?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON, Middlesex, Ealing)Under the powers conferred by the Greenwich Hospital Act of 1869 the Board, by Minute dated August 5, 1873, decided that the buildings of Greenwich Hospital should be used for the purposes of the Royal Naval College without payment of rent, all repairs to the buildings being executed at the expense of naval funds. In 1877 it was decided that an annual acknowledgment of £100 should be paid from naval funds. By this arrangement Greenwich Hospital funds were relieved of the expenses attending the repair and maintenance of the empty buildings, which amounted to about £3,650 per annum. Since 1869 wards have been available in the naval hospitals at the ports rent free for invalided pensioners maintained at the expense of Greenwich Hospital.