§ SIR J. LENG (Dundee)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War if he will inform the House to what extent the powers of the Chelsea Commissioners have been enlarged recently to admit of a higher scale of pension being accorded to men incapacitated by wounds or disease contracted on service.
§ SIR JOHN KENNAWAY (Devonshire, Honiton)At the same time may I ask the Under Secretary of State for War if he can state what bonus, gratuity, or pension soldiers invalided home through wounds or sickness receive on their discharge from the service.
* See The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxxii., p. 489.
§ *MR. WYNDHAMThe cases of all soldiers discharged on account of wounds or sickness are decided by the Chelsea Commissioners, who assign pensions according to the nature of the injury, the soldier's rank, and the duration of his service, within the rates laid down by the Pay Warrant. These rates, for non-commissioned officers and men wholly disabled by wounds, run from 1s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. a day; for men partially disabled, from 6d. to 3s. a day. The recent extension of the powers of the Chelsea Commissioners refers only to cases of men disabled by disease. Formerly the rates of pension which could be granted in such cases depended entirely on rank and length of service, and the maximum for a private was 8d. a day. By Army Order 75, issued on the 1st of April, the maximum was raised to 1s. for privates, and the Chelsea Commissioners were empowered to determine the rate in accordance with the circumstances of each case.