§ 77. Mr. C. DUNCANasked the Home Secretary whether he can state the position of the staffs of those asylums taken over by the military authorities; whether the Government propose to utilise the services of the existing staffs; whether their continuity of service for the purposes of superannuation will be safeguarded; and whether their pay and prospects will remain not less favourable than those at present enjoyed in the services of the local authorities concerned?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe answer to all the points in the question is in the affirmative. I am advised that as the asylums will during their use as military hospitals continue to be for legal purposes asylums, and the officers will remain in the service and pay of the asylum authority, the Asylum Officers Superannuation Act, 1909, will continue to apply to the officers, and their service for pension purposes will not be broken.