§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War what is the total amount and the number of the exceptional pensions or payments already granted to veterans of the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny under the arrangements initiated by his Predecessors; whether these pensions have been granted to deserving veterans apart from the consideration of their present position or only to those in a state of 1855 poverty; and whether, in the case of men who have earned the ordinary pensions, and who are forced to go into a workhouse, any exemption is secured by the War Office on their behalf from the practice which renders such pension liable to be appropriated by the Guardians?
§ *MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANFive hundred and eighty special pensions have been granted representing a gross charge of £8,479 a year and a net charge of £8,046, after deducting the small deferred pensions held by some of the men and merged in the larger special pension. These pensions have been granted only to men whose circumstances were such as to call for charitable assistance. A pensioner with an ordinary pension who enters a workhouse is not exempt from the usual claim of the Poor Law Guardians, who can take his pension in aid of rates to an extent not exceeding the ordinary pauper rate of maintenance.
§ MR. BRODRICK (Surrey, Guildford)Can the right hon. Gentleman state what is the number of candidates who fulfil all the conditions, including that of poverty, for whom no pension is available?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI cannot state the exact number, but it is considerable.