§ 18. Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEasked the Secretary of State for War whether an officer passed as fit for military service, and who after a time is invalided out of the Service or is asked to resign on account of ill-health, is eligible for a pension if the ill-health from which he suffers is not due to a wound but to a disease aggravated by his service; and whether the position is the same for officers serving abroad as for officers serving in the Home forces?
§ Mr. FORSTERIf the officer's earning power is appreciably impaired by his war service he is entitled to pension or gratuity, whether the aggravation of his disability was caused at home or abroad.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEIf it is caused by disease, would it be treated the same as if caused by wound?
§ Mr. FORSTERYes; he is entitled to pension or gratuity, under ordinary circumstances, whether his disability is caused by wound or disease. There is, as the hon. Gentleman knows, a special wounds' pension or gratuity.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEWill the hon. Gentleman answer the last part of the question?
§ Mr. FORSTERI have.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEWhether the position is the same for officers serving abroad?
§ Mr. FORSTERI said it does not matter whether the disability was caused at home or abroad.
§ Mr. HOUSTONIs a pension granted for disability from enthetic disease?
§ 33. Sir J. JARDINEasked the Secretary of State for War as regards the separation allowance of 5s. 1d., Government share, made to Mrs. Martha Wilson, widow, of Kirk Yetholm, in the county of Roxburgh, mother of Sergeant George Wilson, No. 4954, 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers, if he will make inquiry into the adequacy of this amount, and as to whether, before making his estimate of this widow's dependency, the district pension officer made any inquiry of her personally to ascertain what amount her son used to give weekly before mobilisation or enlistment; whether, as a matter of fact, it was about 24s.; and whether, as Mrs. Wilson is a cripple, and has no other means of support, he will increase the present allowance of 8s. a week, made up of 5s. 1d. Government share and 2s. 11d. necessary allotment from soldier's pay, to a more adequate amount?
§ Mr. FORSTERThis claimant has already appealed against the original assessment, and, after reinvestigation by the pension officer, expressed herself to him as satisfied with the new assessment of 8s. a week. If she now desires to bring forward fresh facts, it is open to her to appeal in the regular way to the Appeals Committee.
47. Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked on -what principle deductions from the disability pension of a discharged soldier, in order to refund debts or over-issues incurred before his discharge, are sanctioned in cases where the pension is over 10s. a week, in view of the fact that the man who has been granted a full disability pension of 25s. a week is not supposed to have any more total income than the man who has been awarded a pension of 10s. a week, which is calculated as being sufficient when added to his earning capacity to make 25s. a week; and whether he will consider the advisability of putting an end altogether to these deductions?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe pension is a certainty; the difference between pension and 25s. is not necessarily actual earnings week by week, but assessed earning capacity. I think my hon. Friend will recognise that to ignore this distinction might lead to hardship in individual cases. I fear these recoveries cannot be altogether dispensed with.
Mr. SCOTTIn view of the fact that these pensions afford no margin over what is necessary to support life, can the hon. Gentleman say what these wounded soldiers have to do when these deductions are being made?
§ Mr. FORSTERI have pointed out to my hon. Friend on a previous occasion that the deduction is made in very small weekly sums, and I do not think that any real hardship arises.
§ Mr. FORSTERYes, it has; and I find that these recoveries cannot altogether be dispensed with. I wish they could.
§ 50. Mr. ANDERSONasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is aware of the hardship inflicted on numbers of soldiers and their dependants by the want of proper business methods of the paymaster in certain districts; whether he is aware that occasionally demands are made on dependants for the repayment of sums alleged to have been overdrawn amounting to many pounds; and, since many of these mistakes are due not to any fault on the part of the applicant, but to lack of system or incompetence on the part of certain paymasters, will he say what steps it is proposed to take?
§ Mr. FORSTERI would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave on, 26th October to the hon. Member for West Bradford.