§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that a man named John Ryan, who spent fifty years in one employment, was an applicant for an old-age pension, and fully satisfied the Kilkenny committee of the justice of his claim in the matter of age and with regard to every other qualifying condition, and that his claim was rejected by the pensions officer on the ground that he was in the workhouse hospital for a short time recently, being taken there by the union doctor for special treatment of 450 some disease which could not be properly treated in his home; whether he is aware that John Ryan, since his discharge from the hospital, has repaid to the union the cost of his maintenance and treatment while in hospital; whether, under all the circumstances, this man is entitled to the pension; and will he instruct the pensions officers that it shall be allowed to him.
§ (Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The question whether the man is entitled to a pension is for the pension committee to determine, subject to appeal to the Local Government Board. If a pension has been refused by the committee it is, of course, open to the claimant to appeal.