§ 82. Mr. HURDasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his recent statement that there have been considerable increases of war bonuses to the West African Civil Service pension scale applies to those who have retired from the service as well as to officers now serving; whether, seeing the shortness of the service which Civil servants can perform on the West Coast, and the disability as to the residence there of wives and children owing to the climate and other conditions, these pensions compare badly with the pensions of British Civil servants 1346 elsewhere; and whether he will make further representations on the subject to the authorities concerned, in order to do justice to this class of retired Civil servants?
§ Colonel AMERYI regret if my reply to my lion. Friend's questions on 9th April was not sufficiently explicit. The recent increases of war bonuses to which I referred were on the salaries of officers now serving. No war bonus has been granted to pensioners from the West African Colonies, though the Secretary of State is in communication with the Colonial Governments on the question. The shortness of service in the West African service is compensated for by pensions being calculated at a higher rate—one-fortieth of salary for each year of service, instead of one-sixtieth, which is the general rule in other services.