§ MR. ROGERS (Wiltshire, Devizes)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Commissioners of Inland Revenue have decided that Poor Law relief granted to a husband for the use of his wife disqualifies the husband but not the wife for receipt of an old-age pension; whether the effect of this decision is to annul the pauper disqualification in the case of all married women, seeing that Poor Law relief is always granted to the husband, whether for his use, for the use of his wife, or for the use of both; and whether, in view of the importance of this decision, he will take immediate steps to instruct the Commissioners to bring it to the notice of 1379 pension officers and local pension committees.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The question is one of law, upon which no authoritative decision can be arrived at until it has been settled by the Local Government Board upon an appeal. In cases in which pension officers have sought legal advice through the Board of Inland Revenue they have been advised in the sense indicated in the Question. But I do not think it would be desirable to issue any general instructions until the question has been decided upon appeal.