§ CAPTAIN NAYLOR-LEYLAND (Colchester)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether be has any direct jurisdiction or control over the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund, and whether it is through him that these Commissioners are responsible to Parliament; could he state the total amount subscribed by the public to the Balaclava Fund, the amount disbursed out of it to Balaclava veterans, the amount now remaining, the cost of management since 1890, and the number of Balaclava survivors in 1890 as well as now; could he undertake to lay before Parliament the accounts of the Fund, showing the expenditure and receipts, the names of the survivors, and the amounts they severally received, up to the date the balance was handed over to the Patriotic Commissioners, as well as a balance-sheet giving similar particulars during the time it has been administered by the Commissioners; and under whose authority was the balance transferred to the Patriotic Commissioners; was it that of the subscribers to the Fund?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThe Secretary of State for War has only such indirect control over the Commissioners of the Royal Patriotic Fund as arises from his Ministerial responsibility for advice tendered to Her Majesty, and from the fact that he is their mouthpiece in Parliament. The Balaclava Fund was a private subscription, as to which I cannot undertake any responsibility; and as to which the accounts were published at the time the money was raised. I am informed that the total sum subscribed was £6,804 12s. 6d. That the committee of the Fund paid £3,766 12s. to 570 Balaclava veterans; and transferred £2,949 19s. 6d. in February, 1892, to the Patriotic Fund, the small balance of £88 1s. having been absorbed in necessary expenses. The proceedings of the Patriotic Fund Commissioners to the end of 1892 are shown in their Report last presented, and the statement will be continued to the end of last year in their next Report to Her Majesty; but I am told that £2,800 remained available on December 31 last, out of which, as at present advised, the Commissioners pay the equivalent of 10 pensions of 7s. each a week; the number of men receiving now either that amount or smaller sums in aid of pension being 15. So far as is known the survivors do not exceed 74; but of that number some may be dead, whose deaths have not been reported. The Fund was transferred to the Commissioners by the original trustees as the best and most economical mode of applying the balance for the advantage of the beneficiaries.