§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)To ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether his attention has been directed to the case of John Smith, who, after seven years' service as gunner in the 66th Battery Royal Field Artillery (No. 19,311), has been discharged in ill health upon a pension of 8d. a day for fifteen months from the date of his discharge; and whether, seeing that this man's service has been mainly abroad, in Egypt, South Africa, and India, he will explain why the pension has been fixed for a limited period.
(Answered by Lord Stanley.) Gunner Smith's ill health was stated by the Medical Board to be not due to his service as a soldier, but to rheumatic fever from which he suffered prior to enlistment. He was not, therefore, eligible for a permanent pension, but, as his disability was regarded as possibly aggravated by service, he was awarded a temporary pension for the maximum period admissible for his length of service.