§ MR. DEWAR (Edinburgh)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether he is aware that the late William Samuel, an attendant for thirty-three years in Edinburgh Museum, was retired on a pension of £52 1s. 6d. per annum in January last; and that he died in April, leaving a widow, and without having received any portion of his pension. Whether he has been informed that the said William Samuel surrendered as pension equivalent from his weekly wage sums amounting in 677 all to£58 9s. 4d. Whether he is aware that on 12th April, 1892, the Royal Commission on the Civil Service issued a report recommending that in the event of the death of a pensioner before the amount received in pension has reached the whole of the sum deducted from his pay during his service, his representatives should receive the difference between such total deductions and the amount received as pension. Whether he has been informed that the widow of the said William Samuel has made application, in terms of said recommendation, to have the sum of £58 9s. 4d., the pension equivalent deducted from her husband's pay, refunded to her; and that this application has been refused. And, whether he will now take such steps as he may consider necessary to have the Royal Commission's recommendation carried out, and Mrs. Samuel's husband's money refunded to her.
§ MR. HANBURYIn 1891 an arrangement was made by the Treasury under which certain messengers and attendants under the Science and Art Department were allowed to qualify for pensions on the ordinary terms. When no previous service was to be counted towards pension no deduction from wages was to be made. When previous service was to be counted, a deduction was to be made varying from 2½ per cent. where the service was less than ten years to 10 per cent. where it was over thirty years. The Committee of Council were expressly informed that such deductions were not "contributions towards pension" in the technical sense, and that they would not be returned in cases where a messenger or attendant died before receiving his pension. The deduction was practically the payment of a premium in order to obtain a deferred annuity at a given age or for ill-health. Any balance of pension due to the late W. Samuel will, of course, be payable to his representative. Paragraph 93, of the Second Report of the Ridley Commission (to which the hon. Member probably intended to refer) relates, not to the existing pension scheme, but to a suggested arrangement which has never been adopted.