HC Deb 15 May 1911 vol 25 cc1641-2
Mr. FALLE

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that Henry Smith, hired labourer, Portsmouth Dockyard, was, after over twenty years' service, found in 1903 to be suffering from lead-poisoning, and was treated for a lengthened period at Haslar; that he subsequently suffered from aneurisms, and was invalided in September, 1909, with that complaint, which was attributed to the lead-poisoning; that in January, 1910, he was awarded a pension of £22 6s. 4d., although then in a dying condition; and that Henry Smith died in January, 1911, and the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of death from lead-poisoning; if he is aware that Mrs. Henry Smith died while attending her husband during his last illness, and that their orphan child, a girl aged twelve years, has been obliged to enter Dr. Barnardo's Home, and has been granted by the Admiralty a compassionate allowance of £30; and if he will consider the advisability of giving more adequate compensation?

Mr. McKENNA

The facts of the case are substantially as stated by the hon. Member, but I would point out that in 1903, when Smith contracted lead-poisoning, the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897 was in operation, and that that Act did not provide compensation for industrial diseases. Therefore, had Smith been in private employment, there would have been no legal obligation to compensate him at all. But, being an employé of the State, it was practicable to grant the compensation actually awarded under the Superannuation Act of 1887, although, owing to the terms of that Act, compensation was confined to the man himself. In these circumstances, and as Smith had drawn the allowance of £22 6s. 4d. for barely a year, the Treasury made a special grant of £30 to the daughter from their Compassionate Fund.

Mr. J. WARD

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Home Office, under the Factory Acts, for about thirteen years, have insisted upon lead-poisoning being treated as if it came within the Workmen's Compensation Act?

Mr. McKENNA

No, Sir; I am not aware of that. The Home Office as a Department has no power to act beyond the terms of the Act of Parliament. Lead-poisoning was not included under the Act of 1897, and I would have no power to give any award of compensation in consequence of disease arising from lead-poisoning.

Mr. J. WARD

Will the right hon. Gentleman consult with his right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on the subject?

Mr. McKENNA

Certainly.

Mr. FALLE

May I draw the right hon. Gentleman's attention to the fact that a doctor's certificate was given that the man could not live for a year?

Mr. McKENNA

I have already pointed out that under the Act of 1897 there was no power to give compensation. We went back to the Act of 1887, under which we had power to give a pension. That pension was accordingly given, but there was no power under that Act to give a gratuity to the survivors. We have received for the daughter a compassionate allowance from the Treasury.