§ 17. Sir WALTER de FRECEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many men have been discharged from the Navy 432 for ill-health in each of the last three years, including 1925; in how many cases these men have claimed that their disability was due to service; in how many cases these claims have been admitted and in how many rejected; and whether, in any case, the said applicants have had the right of appeal?
Mr. DAVIDSONThe numbers invalided in the three years in question are as follow:
Any man invalided from the Navy has the right of appeal to the Board of Admiralty, under whose directions the naval medical authorities would give his case careful and sympathetic consideration. As regards an appeal to any medical tribunal beyond the Admiralty, I would refer my hon. Friend to the several replies already given in this House on the subject, namely, on the 1st April, 16th February and 15th December last. I regret that the information asked for in the remainder of the question cannot be given without a detailed examination of the documents of over 4,000 cases, for which no margin of staff is available.
1923 … 1,474 1924 … 1,330 1925 (from 1st January to 30th November) … 1,335
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the right of appeal is more or less useless, seeing that the men cannot be represented?