§ 73. Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the Royal Fleet Reserve pensioners are only receiving about 4s. 6d. a week; that this money has been the same for the last thirty years and is not available until a man is sixty years of age; and whether, in these circumstances, he can see his way to approach the Treasury with a view to some further addition being made?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI assume from the information given in my hon. Friend's question that it relates to pensioners of the Royal Naval Reserve, and not to members of the Royal Fleet Reserve, which was only instituted in 1901. If that is so, I may state that the grant of a pension in respect of service in the Royal Naval Reserve ceased as from the 1st April, 1906, when a gratuity of £50 payable on completion of twenty years' service and attainment of the age of forty was substituted. The pension rights of men enrolled prior to the 1st April, 1906, were, however, conserved and they were given the option of taking the gratuity in lieu of a pension, if they so desired. I am advised that no alteration is considered necessary.