§ MR. E. H. BAYLEY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of Michael Mooney, late corporal in the 1st Dorset Regiment in February, 1883, who paid £28 for his discharge, having served five years, including the Egyptian Campaign; is he aware that Mooney re-enlisted in less than three months afterwards, and served six years and three months more, including service up the Nile 1885–6, and that in July, 1889, he was discharged as medically unfit through illness contracted in Malta; will he explain on what grounds Mooney was not only refused repayment of any portion of his £28, but the first five years of his service were not calculated in estimating his pension, although Lord Wolseley wrote in 1892 to His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief and to the Secretary of State for War, calling attention to the injustice of Mooney's treatment; will he restore the Rule in operation up to July, 1881, under which soldiers re-enlisting after obtaining discharge by purchase got half their money back, and the whole of their former service restored; and will he make the Rule retrospective, so as to meet cases like that of Mooney?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThe corporal's name was Meaney, not Mooney. It is not considered desirable that soldiers who have purchased their discharge should return to the Service, and those who are allowed to do so must accept the conditions imposed. Since the introduction of short service, no refund of purchase money has been allowed, but it is in contemplation so far to relax this Rule as to allow a portion of the purchase money to be refunded in the case of a soldier who has only served two or three years. This would not apply to Meaney's case. If the former service had been reckoned Meaney would still have been disqualified for pension.