§ 54 and 55. Mr. RAMSBOTHAMasked the Minister of Health (1) whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction that exists amongst employ és of the Lancaster Mental Hospital with regard to his action in refusing to sanction certain gratuities to the widows of men who died whilst in the service of this hospital; and whether 620 he can state his reasons for differentiating between these cases and others in which gratuities were sanctioned, seeing that the gratuities which he has refused to sanction were recommended by the local authorities concerned, and that the widows concerned are in need of them;
(2) whether he can state on what grounds he has refused his sanction to the gratuities claimed, under the Asylum Officers' Superannuation Act, 1909, by the widows of Henry Hodgson, John Borland and Richard Stephen Curwen, late employés of the Lancaster Mental Hospital?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe Asylum Officers' Superannuation Act, 1909, makes no provision for the payment of gratuities to these widows. Any such payments are extra-legal and require to be sanctioned under the special powers of the Local Authorities (Expenses) Act, 1887. In my view the use of this Act to sanction additional payments beyond the limits specifically imposed by Parliament in passing the Superannuation Act is justifiable only in very special circumstances, and in these three cases I was unable, after the most careful consideration, to come to the conclusion that such special circumstances obtained. I am not aware of the dissatisfaction referred to in the first question, and I would point out that the proper remedy, if the existing Act is unsatisfactory, is an amendment of the law. On this point I may refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on the 18th July, 1929.
§ Mr. RAMSBOTHAMIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that his policy towards these people is much less generous than the policy of his predecessors?
§ Mr. GREENWOODNo, that is certainly not the case.