§ MR. WOODS () Essex, WalthamstowI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that workmen in Her Majesty's service have certain sums deducted from their wages towards a pension amounting in some cases to five per cent., and that if such workmen die before attaining the age of sixty their dependent relatives do not receive any pension at all; and whether he will cause an inquiry into the matter with the object of compensating the dependent relatives of such workmen under these circumstances.
§ MR. HANBURYThe hon. Member's question is somewhat vague, and I have not been able to trace the specific deductions to which he refers. There are cases such as that of the dockyard workmen under the Admiralty in which a pensionable and a non-pensionable class exist side by side, the latter receiving higher wages in proportion to their duties. In such cases the difference in part represents the workman's expectation of pension; but that pension is expressly made contingent upon certain clear conditions, the principal of them being that he shall, unless permanently incapacitated at an earlier age, reach the age of sixty before becoming entitled to receive it.