§ 4. Mr. JOWETTasked the Minister of Pensions, concerning the case of Mr. Arthur Jones, ex-private, No. 71,420, 2nd battalion Durham Light Infantry, who enlisted in September, 1914, when he was classified Al although he bore the marks of serious bodily injury, on account of which he previously had been for six months an in-patient at the Bradford infirmary, whether he is aware that during an attack of trench fever, contracted whilst on active service in France and for which he was confined to hospital for 868 three months, ex-Private Jones began to have pains, where he had been injured before he enlisted, which fact he reported to the nurses in charge of his case; that two months after demobilisation further aggravation of these pains made it necessary for ex-Private Jones again to go into hospital, where he was operated upon three times for the extraction of dead bone from the seat of his old pre-War injury, and that ever since there has been continuous discharge at the place from whence the dead bone was extracted; that although treatment allowance was allowed to ex-Private Jones as a case of aggravated disability it has since been stopped, and an appeal for its continuance has been decided adversely; and whether, having regard to the facts here stated, he will take steps to satisfy the claim of ex-Private Jones for treatment allowance or, alternatively, for a pension to compensate him for his disability aggravated by war service?
§ Major TRYONThe history of this case, as stated in the question, differs materially from the official record. The man was treated in hospital for trench feet for two weeks in 1916, and for no other disability at any time during service. There is no record of any physical defect on enlistment, and the man's own statement supports this. Three months after he was demobilised he made claim to pension, but the disability then found could not be connected with service. The decision of the Ministry rejecting the claim was confirmed on appeal by the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, and cannot, therefore, be re-opened. The man may, however, apply for a pension for trench feet if he is now suffering from that disability.