§ Sir T. BRAMSDONasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he is aware of the hardship caused by the practice of the Admiralty Departments concerned of deducting the pensions of old pensioners who go to Haslar and other 2221W naval hospitals for treatment before inquiry has been made into the circumstances of the old pensioners; and if he will issue instructions that these deductions are not to be made until a report on each case has been received of the financial circumstances of the pensioner in question, and that the charges made will then be in accordance with the scale laid down and not be a deduction of the whole of the pension for the period treated?
Mr. ALEXANDERUnder present Regulations the pensioner has the benefit of treatment and maintenance in the naval hospital at the expense of the charitable funds of Greenwich Hospital, but his pension for the period of maintenance is withheld and paid over to those funds. The pensioner and (if married) his dependants are, however, granted small money allowances, and if the pension exceeds 2s. a day the whole of the excess over that amount may be paid to the pensioner's wife or other person having charge of his children in the form of such money allowances, subject to the proviso that the money allowance shall be at least 5s. a week. The practice under the present Regulations, so far from inflicting hardship on the pensioner, appears to me to confer benefits upon him.