§ SIR HENRY KIMBER (Wandsworth)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that, although men who have served twenty-one years in the Army and are in possession of pension for Army service rendered, and then entering the Civil Service are permitted to serve towards a second pension in the Civil Service, men who have served seven, or even twelve, years in the Army or Navy, and then entering the Civil Service, are not allowed to count those years towards pension; and whether the Government intend to take the case of the latter into consideration.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) I do not see anything anomalous in the present-arrangement. The military and the Civil Service are in each case kept distinct, and the ex-soldier is in precisely the same position as regards his previous military service as if he were in civilian employment outside the public service. The suggestion made in the latter part of the Question has been carefully considered both by the late and by the present Government, with the result that, regard being had to the dissimilarity of the conditions affecting appointment, promotion pay, and pension in the Army and Navy on the one hand and in the Civil Service on the other, it has been decided that there is not sufficient, ground for asking Parliament to modify the present practice.