§ 26. Major COLFOXasked the Home Secretary what would be the annual cost to the country if police pensioners who retired before 1918 were to be treated as regards pensions for themselves or their widows in the same way as those now retiring; and whether he will say what would be the estimated annual cost five, twenty, and fifteen years hence?
§ Mr. SHORTTIf the pensions of men who retired from the Metropolitan Police before the present year were increased to the same rates as those of men now retiring, the cost would be £950,000 a year, and for the whole of England and Wales the cost would not be less than £2,500,000 a year. There are no materials now available on which the charge for future years, or the cost of granting pensions to the widows of these men cold be calculated.