§ MR. HAZELL (Leicester)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the list of pensioners on the Consolidated Fund, according to the Finance Accounts printed in June last; whether he is aware that 13 persons are stated to be receiving pensions, amounting in the aggregate to £1,350, because these pensions were formerly on the Civil List of King George IV.; whether there are also six persons, whose aggregate annuities amount to £690, who were formerly on the Civil List of King William IV.; and can he state what evidence is required that these persons are living before their annuities are paid?
§ MR. HANBURYMy attention has been called to these pensions, by no means for the first time, by the Question of the honourable Member. There are, it appeals, no longer pensions payable which began to be paid in the reign of King George III., but there were still 12 pensioners in the Finance Accounts of last year (two being sisters) whose pensions date from the time of George IV. Of these three have recently died. There are ten (not six) persons whose pensions date from the Civil List of William IV. Of these four are a brother and three sisters, and four others are two pairs of sisters. With one exception, these 22 persons are women. There appears to be no legal necessity for a declaration or attestation in the case of pensions directly charged upon the Consolidated Fund, and payable under Statute. But the Pay Office requires in the case of the pensions named in the Question a life certificate attested by any one of the persons 12 who are authorised to attest the declarations of pensioners paid out of voted, moneys.