§ Captain BOWYERasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. F. Davis, D.S.O., late of the South Stafford Regiment, whose application for a full pension has recently been refused; whether he is aware that Mr. Davis served in the Army as a Regular soldier from 23rd August, 1898, until May, 1911, when he went to Section D, Army Reserve, for a period of five years; that on 4th August, 1914, he was recalled to the 1904W colours, and on 4th May, 1916, completed his five years' service with the Army Reserve; that he elected to remain with the colours for the duration of the War and was twice wounded; that in January, 1918, he applied for a temporary commission in the Regular Army, but was granted a commission in the Special Reserve, during the holding of which he was wounded a third time, awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and was mentioned in despatches; that on 10th November, 1919, he was demobilised, having thus completed 21 years and eight days' service; that this man's application for a pension was at first refused, but that ultimately a pension of 2s. 3d. per day was awarded to him, and that this pension is based only upon a part of his service prior to taking a commission; that this pension entirely ignores three years of his service in the Army Reserve and his entire commissioned service; and if he will immediately take steps to ensure that, whether Army Order No. 159 be made retrospective or not, the period of Mr. Davis's service in the Army Reserve and in the commissioned ranks be at least added to his previous service in the computation of his pension?
§ Sir A. WILLIAMSONMr. Davis had no claim to a pension until the issue of Army Order 446 at the end of October. This enabled his total service, including his Reserve and Commissioned service, to be counted for entitlement to pension. But in fixing the rate, Deserve service does not count, nor does the Commissioned time for which he was awarded a gratuity under Article 497 (b) of the Pay Warrant, which is not given to officers who are counting time for retired pay or pension. Army Order 159 is not, in any case, applicable to an officer of the Special Reserve.