§ MR. ARTHUR BROOKFIELD (Sussex, Rye)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in giving effect to any of the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Royal Patriotic Fund, Her Majesty's Government will favourably consider including within the scope of the fund the case of widows of Crimean Officers who rose from the ranks?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYAfter inquiry I find that the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund are of opinion that the very numerous applications, already amounting to nearly 1,000, from the necessitous 512 I widows of petty officers and non-commissioned officers of the Navy and Army who come within the scope of the Commissioners' powers as recently extended, make it impossible for them to hold out any hope that they can extend their operations to the cases of widows of commissioned officers.