§ VISCOUNT VALENTIA (Oxford)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, whether the pension of 2s. 3d. per diem, due to Troop Sergeant Major Redding (late 10th Royal Hussars, and now an inmate of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum), and paid subsequent to his incarceration, 31st May 1882, to his wife till 5th January 1891, was discontinued after the latter date, no further payment being made to Mrs. Redding till 8th August 1895, when she received £214s., and that the last payment to her, 27th January 1896, was £1 7s.; and, if so, why such payment was discontinued between the dates named and on what principle the subsequent payments to Mrs. Redding, being less than her due, were made?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe facts are as stated in my noble Friend's question. When Redding was first confined as a criminal lunatic his pension was paid to his wife, and this continued until 1891. From that time the provisions of the Act 50 & 51 Vict., Cap. 67, Section 7, required that his pension should be applied to his maintenance. From 1895, however, on his wife's application, the value of his labour at Broadmoor was added to his pension, and the surplus which then remained over the cost of his maintenance was paid to his wife, and has been paid at the same rate since. Next month the case will be reviewed, and the balance payable for the ensuing year to the wife will be fixed. The War Office has no discretion in the matter.