§ 35. Mr. SCRYMGEOURasked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that in the case of David Laing, late private, No. 8,923, Royal Hussars, of Glen-craig, Fife, no mention was made in his medical history of any latent disease at the time of enlistment; and why the Ministry, having accepted disability as aggravated and awarded a gratuity of £55, also providing later medical and surgical treatment, should now refuse to recognise this ex-soldier's wholly incapacitated condition prevalent since his discharge from hospital in March, 1927?
§ The MINISTER of PENSIONS (Major Tryon)I have already explained fully to the hon. Member why the disease present in this case could at the utmost be found to have been only to a slight extent aggravated, not caused, by War service. The powers and duties of the Ministry in such a case extend only to the disablement which can properly be ascribed to the effects of War service, and the fact that in the man's interest a period of treatment was conceded by the Ministry cannot be pressed as a ground for the acceptance by the Ministry of the whole condition present in this case as due to War service when the history of the case shows that it was not so caused.
§ Mr. SCRYMGEOURIs it not the fact that early disability had entirely passed away years before the man entered, and in proof of this is there only a reference to two scars when the man joined? Is that correct?
§ Major TRYONIt is true that the scars were noted when the man joined, and that shows that the illness was of pre-War origin.
§ Mr. SCRYMGEOURIs it not the fact that disability had entirely passed away before, that the man was operated upon and discharged from the hospital worse than he was before, that he was again admitted and later discharged, and has now been thrown upon the parish council? Is that not the position?
§ Major TRYONIt is undoubtedly the fact this man suffered from the trouble in his leg before the War, according to his own statement and according to the statement of his own doctor.