§ MR. DELANY (Queen's County, Ossory)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that an application on behalf of Catherine Guilfoile, a widow aged seventy years, came before the Mountmellick Board of Guardians at their meeting on the 1st instant, and that this woman has two sons who hitherto maintained her, and are at present in the service of the King, one in South Africa and the other in Dover; and, seeing that the application was supported by the chairman of the county council, who is also guardian of the division in which Catherine Guilfoile resides, and who recommended that she be granted 2s. 6d. per week, whether he can take any steps by which this woman may be prevented from becoming chargeable to local rates.
§ MR. BRODRICKThe Secretary of State for War has no power to compel the sons to give any portion of their pay 894 to their mother. An application by the local authorities to the officers commanding the regiments concerned to take measures to induce the sons to contribute to their mother's support would doubtless receive attention.