§ 80. Brigadier-General SURTEESasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will state what action, if any, has been taken by the Government with regard to the recommendations of the British East African Civil Service Commission and those of the special com missioner, Sir Alfred Lascelles, for improving the pay and pensions of Civil Service officers serving in that Protectorate?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYSince the receipt of the recommendations mentioned, the matter has been the subject of close consideration with the Governors of the Protectorates in Eastern Africa. A complete scheme for the revision of salaries has been prepared, and is now being referred to the Treasury, whose sanction is required in the case of those Protectorates which are dependent on the Imperial Exchequer. The question of improving pensions is also in hand.
§ 81. Brigadier-General SURTEESasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will say whether, if an officer in the British East African civil 1690 service dies at his post, even if he has served 30 years or more, his widow and family receive no pension whatever unless the widow declares herself to be absolutely destitute and, if she does so, that then she only receives such pension as an act of grace; whether the maximum, which she may thus receive is six months of her husband's rate of pay; and whether, if any officer dies after retirement, even though it be in the first year of his drawing his pension, that pension dies with him and his widow and children-receive absolutely nothing?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYThe present position is as stated in the hon. and gallant Member's question, but I hope that a Widows' and Orphans' Pension scheme for East Africa will be in operation in the near future. Vital statistics have been collected during a number of years, and are now in the hands of an actuary, who hopes to be able to submit a definite scheme in the course of the next few weeks.