§ Mr. FETHERSTONHAUGHasked the Chief Secretary why the application of Matthew Porter, of Keeran, Irvinestown, county Fermanagh, for an old age pension, which had been allowed by the local old age pensions committee, was disallowed by the Local Government Board on appeal by the Inland Revenue officer; did this gentleman report to the Local Government Board that the claimant's wife had four acres of oats and three acres of potatoes, statements which were unfounded, also thirty-six acres of land, and that all the 1112W cattle on the farm belonged to her; were any steps taken to verify these statements, which claimant denied, and was it on assumption of the truth of these statements that the decision arrived at by the Local Government Board was founded; and will the Board send down an independent man to inquire into the actual circumstances of the case or otherwise enable the claimant to show that the statements as to his wife's means were entirely mistaken and untrue?
§ Mr. BIRRELLMatthew Porter's claim for an old age pension was disallowed by the Local Government Board, on appeal, on the grounds that his means exceeded the statutory limit. The pension officer reported that claimant lived with his wife on her farm, which comprised thirty and a half acres of fair land, of which two acres were under potatoes, three acres under oats, four acres under hay, a quarter of an acre under roots, the remainder being used for grazing. The farm carried fourteen head of cattle, one horse, two sheep, in addition to goats and fowl. He also reported that claimant had represented to him that of the above stock eight head of cattle and the sheep belonged to claimant's son, who resides on the farm. Even assuming that claimant's statement is correct, his means were, in the Board's opinion, in excess of the statutory limit.