§ Mr. PERKINSasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he could state, in respect of the Greenwich Hospital pension No. 13,500, granted to William Cruse, of Quay Street, Lymington, who was invalided for paralysis on 6th October, 1903, why the pension of £13 12s. per annum had been reduced to £9 2s.; and, in view of the fact that the pensioner was permanently invalided, whether he would take steps to increase the pension to the former rate?
§ Mr. McKENNAWilliam Cruse served only six years in the Royal Navy, and was invalided in 1893, not 1903, for a disease which was not occasioned by the service. Since the date of his being invalided Cruse has been receiving a pension varying from £9 2s. to £13 12s. a year; and in view of his short service and of the increasingly heavy claims on the funds available for Greenwich Hospital pensions, it is considered that a larger pension than £9 2s. would not now be justified.