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Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £6,000, be granted to His Majesty to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st of March, 1939, for War pensions and allowances (including cost of treatment) to merchant seamen and fishermen and their dependants and the administrative expenses connected therewith.
§ 9.50 p.m.
§ Mr. CrossThe original Estimate under this heading was £253,322 and the Supplementary grant for which I am asking is £6,000. It is accounted for under two headings. There is an increase of £500 in the allowances for disabled officers and seamen in the Mercantile Marine. During the year allowances were reinstated in four cases for which provision had not been made. A second item relates to pensions and allowances to widows and dependants of deceased officers and seamen. The estimates are based on the current rates, and take into account probable changes owing to the death of beneficiaries, the marriage of widows and other items which affect the total expenditure. The original estimate was based on a probability of 101 deaths occurring in the year, when actually there were only 80.
702 I regret that the main reason for this comparatively large sum is an underestimate which was due to an arithmetical error. I must apologise for coming to the Committee and asking for extra money for any such reason. It was not an error large enough to excite attention at the time when the estimate was framed, although certainly the clerks should have observed it. There are some 2,500 cases, and they are kept in 11 different binders. An error was made in totalling the amount of money required for the cashes in one of these binders, but as it was small in relation to the total for the whole lot it passed unnoticed. I apologise to the Committee for having to ask it for an additional sum for such a reason; I hope they will forgive me, and allow me the Vote.
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Resolved,
That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £6,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1939, for War pensions and allowances (including cost of treatment) to merchant seamen and fishermen and their dependants and the administrative expenses connected therewith.