§ MR. DUFFY (Galway S)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that Anne Kerry (1569), widow of Thomas Kerry, a Crimean soldier killed at Inkerman, has become an inmate of the Loughrea workhouse hospital, and that her allowance of 10s. per week from the Patriotic Fund was stopped; and will he see that the allowance is paid as usual in advance.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman) The facts of the case are reported to me as follows:—The son of Mrs. Anne Kerry placed his mother in the workhouse hospital, Loughrea, on the 4th July, immediately after receiving the charitable allowance of the Patriotic Fund at the rate of 10s. a week for the quarter from 1st July to 30th September. On the fact of her admission to the workhouse hospital becoming known to the corporation the son was informed that, in accordance with the rules for the administration of the Patriotic Russian War Fund, which had obtained during the whole fifty-two years of its existence, the allowance his mother had enjoyed could not be continued while she was an inmate of the workhouse hospital, which is maintained out of the rates. Mrs. Kerry was admitted suffering from senile debility. If adequate arrangements for her proper care can be made for her otherwise than in the workhouse infirmary or a charitable institution, I understand that the corporation will be prepared to restore the allowance of 10s. a week for Mrs. Kerry.