§ 19. Mr. EVELYN CECILasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions whether charges amounting to 3s. 7d. are made by local registrars for issuing a duplicate of a lost birth certificate of soldiers or sailors killed in action; and whether, as these certificates are indispensable to their dependants in claiming pensions, he will arrange for some other course to be adopted to avoid a total charge to the dependants which appears unduly high and which many can ill afford?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENAs I explained to the hon. Member for Merionethshire on the 2nd instant, a veri- 1970 fication statement containing the particulars required can be obtained free of charge on application to the Registrar-General, Somerset House. Applications are similarly entertained by the Registrar-Generals at Edinburgh and Dublin. Although, as I stated, the local registrars cannot be compelled to forego their fees, I believe that the practice of charging a merely nominal fee or of remitting it altogether, as an act of grace, is largely followed.