§ Mr. MacVEAGHasked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether, in view of the increased cost of living, he can arrange, through the Greenwich Hospital or any other agency, to increase the allowance-made to naval pensioners aged seventy years and upwards?
§ Dr. MACNAMARANaval life pensions, which are awarded at a comparatively early age, generally at about forty years of age, range from 5s. 10d. per week in the case of the ordinary seaman to 24s. per week in the case of the chief petty officer. Greenwich Hospital pensions are already given in many cases in supplement of these life pensions, and, so long as the money remains unexpended, are given in the order of age and necessity of the applicant. At the present time, age pensions of 5d. a day in augmentation of the naval life pensions are being paid to about 3,800 men, and increased age pensions of 9d. a day are being paid to about 5,500 men. I should say that the age pension of 5d. a day is now being paid to men having reached somewhere about the age of fifty-seven, and that the increased age pension of 9d. a day is paid at the age of sixty-five.