§ 72. Mr. MORRELLasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether his attention has been drawn to the hardship that frequently arises through the refusal of the Government to pay the usual separation allowance to the dependants of a soldier on active service, other than his legal wife and family, when his wife though separated from him, is still living: and whether, in cases in which it can be shown that a soldier's wife has deserted him through no fault of his own, and has not received or been entitled to support from him after such desertion, the Government will provide that the usual allowance should be paid to the soldier's real dependants in the same way as it would be paid if he were an unmarried man?
Mr. BAKERSubject to any decision on the Report of the Select Committee the grant of allowances to dependants is confined to married soldiers. I would remind my hon. Friend that there are adequate non-public funds which can be applied to special cases of this kind.