§ MR. SPICER (Monmouth Boroughs)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the Patriotic Fund Commissioners have declined to re-admit a widow named Frances Lewis, of Newport (Mon.), who, as the wife of Patrick Driscoll, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment of Foot, was two years in the Crimea, and underwent many of the hardships of that campaign; and, whether the decision will be reconsidered, seeing that she is now aged, again a widow, and almost absolutely dependent on the ratepayers.
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. G. WYNDHAM, Dover)The case of Mrs. Lewis has been carefully considered by the Patriotic Fund Commissioners, and in view of the fact that there is not only no evidence of the death of her second husband, Charles Wilmott, but that the certificate of her third marriage has been unmistakably tampered with, they are unable to readmit her to the list of recipients of the fund.