§ SIR CHARLES M'LAREN (Leicestershire, Bosworth)To ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the case, stated by the Secretary of the Army Reservists Fund, of a time-expired man, two of whose children have died of starvation and who is himself in the workhouse, although £40 is due to him for arrears of pay; and to the case of another man, with £30 due to him, who had to pawn his medal to obtain money to support his children; and whether he will, if details of the above cases are brought before him, cause an inquiry into the whole circumstances.
§ SIR CHARLES M'LARENTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the statement, made on behalf of the Committee of the Army Reservists Fund, that numbers of time-expired men are still without arrears of pay due to them; that the Secretary of the Committee was not paid for eight months, though he called at the War Office to urge his claims; that the Chairman did not receive any of his pay until eight weeks after his return 604 home with his papers in order, and until he had twice written to the Commander-in-Chief and had a personal interview with Sir Edward Ward; that in this last case £10 only has been paid, and the balance retained until the middle of November; and what explanation he can give of these circumstances.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) The statements referred to by the hon. Baronet only reached me this morning. I will have them inquired into. Without wishing to cast any doubt on these particular statements, it is right I should mention that I inquire carefully into every grievance which reaches me and hitherto the great majority have not been borne out by the facts.