§ Brigadier-General Sir OWEN THOMASasked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether the new additional bonus of 20 per cent, payable on war pensions and allowances to dependants of sailors and soldiers will be extended to dependants of officers and men of the Merchant Service whose lives were lost in auxiliary ships, and whose dependants are receiving Government allowances through the various war risks associations; and what would be the cost, approximately, of granting Service scales of pensions, in lieu of the allowances now paid to the dependants through these associations?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANMy right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. As the hon. and gallant Member was 2921W informed on 10th April by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions, the bonus of 20 per cent, to which he refers is only added to the pensions and allowances paid by that Department. Substantial improvements have recently been made in the war risks compensation scheme for the Mercantile Marine which is administered through the war risks associations, and the question is now being considered whether some further modification in the scheme is or is not necessary. I am not in a position to reply to the final part of the question.