§ CAPTAIN CHALONER (Wilts, Westbury)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether his attention has been called to the case of No. 4,443, Private Benjamin Ball, aged 62 years, who served 9 years 262 days in the Rifle Brigade, of which he spent 1 month at Malta, 13 months in the Crimea, including siege of Sevastopol, and 2½ years in British North America, being eventually discharged as unfit for further service, 601 and only received 6d. a day for 2½ years; that, having endeavoured to earn a livelihood since his discharge, he is now certified as being totally incapacitated from earning a livelihood, owing to chronic bronchitis and lung disease; and that he has been refused any compassionate allowance on the ground that he did not complete the necessary period of ten years' service; whether it was through the exigencies of the Service and not his own fault that he did not do so; and whether the Government will consider the advisability of considering this and all such cases on their merits, irrespective of the length of service?
§ MR. HANBURYThis case has not been brought before the Treasury. The matter is one primarily for the consideration of the War Office.