HC Deb 15 March 1915 vol 70 cc1750-1
73. Mr. WING

asked if the pensions to widows and orphans, also allowances for disablement, as set out in the new Order, will apply to the ambulance men who have enlisted under the joint committee order of the St. John's and Red Cross Society?

Mr. BAKER

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for the Tamworth Division on 2nd March, in which I stated that enlisted men are entitled to the same provision as the Regular Army.

85. Mr. HOGGE

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he has now considered the inequality existing between the separation allowance allowed in the case of the wife dependent on one soldier and the mother dependent on more than one; whether the amount of the dependence of the latter is greater than that of the former, while the expenditure consequent upon her losing their support temporarily is also greater; whether, if it is made up to her out of the pay of the other soldiers, usually her sons, they are placed in a worse position than the other soldier who gets an equal allotment for 3s. 6d.; and whether he is prepared to modify the new paragraph 4a in Royal Warrant XII. in order to remove this inequality?

Mr. BAKER

This question has been fully considered, as my hon. Friend knows, and I am not prepared to revise the scheme as adopted by the Government.

Mr. HOGGE

Does my hon. Friend not see that the principle on which these allowances are given is that the more you give the less you get?

Mr. BAKER

The principle on which this decision was taken was that no dependant should have more than a wife.