§ 71. Mr. PETOasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention bas been called to the case of the ss. " Clearfield," reported missing over twelve months ago; whether any decision has yet been arrived at as to the cause of the loss; whether he is yet prepared to admit the claim of the widow of the captain of this vessel to compensation under the Government compensation scheme; and whether he will take steps to see that a more prompt decision is arrived at in these cases in future, and that the widows of the officers and other dependants receive more generous treatment?
§ Mr. WARDLEEvery effort is made to deal with these pension and compensation cases as quickly as possible, and the general principle which is acted on in the case of missing ships is that if there is any 1190 reasonable probability that the vessel was lost through a war peril, the case is treated as a war risk for the purpose of the compensation scheme, and pensions are paid to the dependants. The case to which the hon. Member refers presented some special difficulties, and there has been delay in reaching the final settlement, but I understand that provisional payments on account have been made to the widow of the captain.
§ Mr. PETOIs it not the fact that a sum of only about £20 has been paid to this widow in the course of twelve months, and will the hon. Member take into consideration that there must be cases where vessels are lost without any evidence that their loss is owing to war conditions; and will he in all cases regard that loss as due to enemy action?
§ Mr. WARDLESympathetic consideration will be given to the facts of cases brought to our notice.