§ Mr. LONSDALEasked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that William Pawley of Canary, county Armagh, who is in receipt of an old age pension of 2s. per week, has been incapacitated from work owing to an accident in July last, and that consequently his yearly means have been so reduced as to entitle him, in the opinion of the Armagh North rural pension sub-committee, to an increase of his pension to 5s. per week; whether the Local Government Board, on appeal, have vetoed the increase; and whether he will 2057 lay upon the Table all reports and evidence laid before the Local Government Board in their consideration of this case?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe pension sub-committee, on a question raised by William Pawley, increased his pension from two shillings to five shillings per week, as they considered that his yearly means had been reduced owing to his having become incapacitated from work. The Local Government Board, however, after careful local investigation by an inspector, who visited Pawley's farm and heard what he had to say in support of his application, came to the conclusion that he was not entitled to the proposed increase. The papers and reports in this case were intended for the confidential use of the Board and cannot be laid on the Table.
§ Mr. LYNCHasked whether, in the case of Mrs. Bridget Halloran, of Moyfadda, near Labasheeda, West Clare, who was born in 1836, and who was now bed-ridden, an old age pension of 4s. which had been granted to her was disallowed by the Local Government Board on the ground that the claimant had sufficient means; whether she possessed only ten acres of inferior land which by unremitting industry and care had yielded a bare subsistence; and whether the decision of the Local Government Board would be reconsidered?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe acreage of Mrs. Halloran's holding is as stated, and the Local Government Board upheld the pension officer's appeal on the ground that the claimant's means exceeded the statutory limit. It is not open to them to reconsider their decision.
§ Mr. LYNCHWill the right hon. Gentleman take note particularly that there is in this case an element of thrift?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIf a person has through thrift more than the income stated in the Act he cannot have both thrift and pension.
§ Mr. LYNCHasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Mrs. Kate McGrath, of Carrowbloughmore, Farrihy, West Clare, was in receipt of an old age pension from January, 1909, to September, 1909, but was deprived of the pension on the sole ground that her name was not to be found in the Census returns of 1841 and 1851; whether he is aware that the pension committee on more than one occasion recommended the pension, being convinced by her appearance that she was 2058 well over the statutory age; and, seeing that the opinion of the pension officer alone remained adverse to the applicant, whether the Local Government Board will reconsider this case?
§ Mr. BIRRELLKate McGrath's family was not traced in the 1851 Census, but appears in the 1841 Census return. The claimant, however, was not found as one of the members, and it would, therefore, appear that she was as yet unborn in 1841. The Local Government Board did not disallow the claim on account of the pension officer's opinion, but because there was no satisfactory proof furnished to them that she had attained the statutory age. It is not open to them to reconsider their decision.
§ Mr. LYNCHDoes the right hon. Gentleman not think that the time has come when he should no longer allow pension officers to override the decisions of the committee?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo, Sir.
§ Mr. O'DOWDWill the right hon. Gentleman say what class of evidence will be accepted in such cases as satisfactory by the Local Government Board and the Treasury?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIt is impossible for the Board or anybody else to say beforehand in any given ease what will satisfy them. All I say is that they require to be satisfied.