32. Colonel BURNasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will consider the services of those men who joined early in the War for service in the Auxiliary Yacht Patrol under the Admiralty, with a view to their receiving a gratuity, many of these men being discharged owing to illness contracted on service?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)It is presumed that the men referred to by my hon. and gallant Friend are those who were employed at mercantile, and not naval, rates of pay. On the question of gratuity, I have already explained, in reply to my hon. and gallant Friend, that the naval war gratuity is issuable only to men who have received naval rates of pay. The men to whom my hon. and gallant Friend refers, that is to say, the men employed at mercantile rates of pay, if discharged owing to illness specifically attributable to their service under the Admiralty, are eligible for awards of compensation under schemes framed under the Injuries in War (Compensation) Acts, 1914.