§ MR. KEARLEY (Devonport)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether any modification of the conditions has been arrived at affecting those seamen pensioners who re-engage for a further period of five years after completion of time for pension, and who have earned the good conduct medal and gratuity, which hitherto have been liable to forfeiture during this period of extra service.
(Answered by Mr. Arnold-Forster.) The Admiralty have decided that in future when a man who is entitled to the maximum good conduct gratuity on completion of his second period of continuous service re-engages for a third period, he may be paid the good conduct gratuity to which he is entitled instead of waiting until he is discharged to pension. The good conduct medal, to which the hon. Member also refers, has always been awarded as soon as earned.