§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)In the absence of my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the live Division of Sussex, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is the case that Boards of Guardians have power to stop as much as one-half of an Army pensioner's quarterly pay, in order to maintain his wife, she being an inmate of the county lunatic asylum, and otherwise chargeable to the Union for her maintenance; whether the pensioner has any right to appeal to any higher authority for a reduction or mitigation of such stoppage of pay; and is the decision of the Guardians as to the pensioner's ability to undergo the stoppage of half his pension in every case peremptory and final?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANA Board of Guardians has not the power in itself to stop any part of a soldier's pension on the ground that his wife is chargeable to the rates; but by Royal Warrant under Act of Parliament the Secretary of State is empowered in such a case, on the representation of the Guardians, to order the payment to them of not more than one-half of the pension. As the Secretary of State makes the order he may obviously be appealed to for its mitigation, but it is not usual to make the stoppage less than the half of the pension.