§ Captain DONELAN (Cork, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that ex-private Daniel Linehan, late 108th Regiment, is at present an inmate of Midleton Workhouse, County Cork; whether he is aware that Linehan served 17 years in the Army, and was then discharged, owing to defective eyesight, on a pension of 9d. per day; whether he is aware that Linehan has since become quite blind, and that the medical officer of the Union has certified that his blindness is incurable; whether he is aware that, in consequence of this affliction, Linehan has recently petitioned the War Office for a small increase of pension, and that this Petition has been refused on the ground that Linehan was on the Indian Establishment; and will he, under these circumstances, recommend Linehan's case to the proper authorities?
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN,&c.) Stirling,When Daniel Linehan was transferred from the late Indian European Army to the Imperial Forces he elected to serve under the Indian Pension Regulations, and he has been granted the maximum pension to which under those Rules his services entitled him. It is certified that his blindness was not caused by the Service.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that ex-private John Barry, late Bengal Cavalry and Royal Artillery, is at present an inmate of Midleton Workhouse, County Cork; whether he is aware that Barry, having served two years in the Bengal Cavalry and 15 years in the Royal Artillery, with a good record, was discharged as unfit for further duty, and is now in receipt of 4d. per day; whether he is aware that 69 Barry's Petition for an increase of pension to 8d. per day, to enable him to leave the Union, has just been refused; and whether, in view of the detriment to the Service and the injury caused to recruiting by reason of worn out old soldiers being compelled to end their days in the workhouse, he will request the War Office to reconsider their decision in this case?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANJohn Barry, when discharged from the Army for disability partly resulting from his own irregular habits, had not served Long enough to entitle him to a permanent pension, He was granted a temporary pension, which he held for nearly four years, and. he established a claim to a deferred pension of 4d. a day, which he has received since 1885. Not having served in any campaign before 1860 he is not eligible for a special campaign pension, and no other is open to him under the Royal Warrant. I am afraid that I cannot undertake to revise the pensions of all soldiers who, after discharge, fall into necessitous circumstances.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANWill the right hon. Gentleman kindly explain why similar difficulties never appeal when it is a question of adding £1,000 a year to a Field Marshal's pay?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI do not know that any such question has ever arisen.