Mr. NEWDEGATEasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that dissatisfaction exists among Civil servants owing to the regulations by which a certain number of that body are refused benefits under the Superannuation Act, 1909, owing to reasons of health; and whether he will reconsider this question of disqualification and grant to Civil servants benefits under their superannuation scheme in a similar manner to elementary school teachers, who are accepted under their benefit scheme without any medical inquiry or examination whatever?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEI cannot admit that there is any legitimate ground for complaint in the fact that in certain cases existing Civil servants have been refused permission to adopt the provisions of the Superannuation Act, 1909, seeing that the scheme for admitting such Civil servants to the benefits of the Act was framed, and the unexpected liberality of its provisions could only have been granted on the assumption that they would at the time of their respective applications satisfy the Treasury that they were in a sound state of health. I regret that I cannot waive this condition. No comparison can be drawn between the scheme embodied in the Superannuation Act, 1909, and the scheme applicable to elementary school teachers.