§ Mr. MULDOONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that Frederick Webb, a naval pensioner, was accidentally killed at the post of duty on His Majesty's ship "Sirius" in Queens-town Harbour, on the 11th February, 1911; that deceased had depending upon his earnings a widowed sister, Mrs. Annie Mahony, who has occasional employment 1342 as a stewardess, but whose health is so bad that she cannot continue the same; and that deceased had been during the best part of his life in the Navy; and whether, seeing that it would have been a case for compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act if the employment had been outside a Government establishment, and that Government establishments profess to grant compensation in respect of accidents under the same conditions, he will explain on what grounds has compensation been refused to deceased's sister?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)Webb was killed as stated on 11th February, 1911, and Mrs. Mahony's claim for compensation was at once investigated. It was refused because, although Webb had regularly assisted his sister with money for some time after her husband's death about eleven years ago, he had ceased to do so for a considerable period before his death, such occasional pecuniary assistance as he rendered not being considered by the Treasury as constituting dependency on his earnings within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906. Inquiries at the time elicited that Mrs. Mahony was employed as a stewardess on Cunard liners for about eight months of each year, her wages being £1 a week, and that she was about to start on another voyage.