§ Mr. STURROCKasked the Minister of Pensions whether over 1,000 awards of pensions have been made in the case of sailors' and soldiers' widows whose husbands died in circumstances other than through the direct result of the Great War; whether the pensions are only temporary, and no allowances for children are permissible under the articles in the Royal Warrant in which these pensions are issued; and whether, in view of the increased cost of living and the impending increase in house rents, he will consider the advisability of granting an addition to the pension in the form of a bonus on compassionate grounds?
§ Major TRYONThe answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the affirmative. As these pensions are in the nature of a compassionate allowance, granted under circumstances which cannot be said to impose any liability for maintenance from the State, they were, as the hon. Member was informed on the 27th November last, excluded from the scope of the bonus, and I am not prepared to recommend an alteration of the decision then arrived at by the Government.