§ Mr. MACKINDERasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether established sorting clerks and telegraphists who enlisted in the Royal Engineers under the conditions published in the Post Office Circulars No. 798, 1890, have to forfeit their pension rights for the period they served with the colours; whether he can state the grounds on which Mr. R. L. Kennedy, late established sorting clerk and telegraphist at Glasgow, who has been medically disqualified after having fourteen years' established service, five of these having been passed in the Royal Engineers, was granted a bonus instead of a pension; and whether any steps are being taken with a view to the periods served in the way indicated being included in the calculation of service rendered to the State for pension purposes?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIn the existing state of the law service with the colours cannot be counted for the purpose of civil superannuation. Mr. Kennedy's civil service did not amount to ten years, and he was accordingly granted a gratuity under Section 6 of the Superannuation Act, 1859. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.