§ CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.)To ask the First Lord of the Admiralty what are the conditions under which the Greenwich Hospital old-age pensions 1300 is granted; and can he state the number of pensioners from the Royal Navy eligible for, but not paid, this pension, and the reasons for withholding it.
(Answered by Mr. MCKenna.) Greenwich Hospital age pensions are given entirely at the discretion of the Admiralty to naval life pensioners (this term does not include marine deferred pensioners) whose characters, while in and after leaving the service, have been good. Naval pensioners are eligible for age pensions of 5d. a day on attaining the age of fifty-five if they have been pensioners for five years, and for the increase of such pensions to 9d. a day at the age of sixty-five if they have been pensioners for ten years. The number of pensioners from the Royal Navy eligible for, but not in receipt of, the Greenwich Hospital age pension is approximately 4,080. The funds of Greenwich Hospital are insufficient to provide age pensions for all eligible men, and the vacancies occurring from time to time are filled by selection from among the oldest and most necessitous candidates.