§ Mr. DEVLINasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any instructions have been issued to pension officers in Ireland with regard to the verification of the age of applicants under the Old Age Pensions Act, and, if so, whether he will communicate their nature to the House; whether Government officials are at present engaged in Ireland in holding secret inquiries and searching for information against persons already in receipt of old age pensions; whether, for the purpose of having admitted claims disallowed, reference is being made by these officials to the Census Returns of 1841 and 1851; whether he is aware that these Returns are incomplete, and, in most cases, inaccurate as to age; that the ages noted in these Returns were taken from viva voce reports of heads of families, and not from authoritative registers of births or baptisms; whether the pension officers themselves have acknowledged, in some instances, that they found the Census Returns defective and misleading; and whether the attempt to deprive Irish claimants of their pensions on the strength of these Returns will be persisted in?
§ Mr. LLOYD-GEORGEIn certain cases where claims for pensions have been admitted without documentary evidence of age pension officers have been instructed 1981W to refer the cases to the Census Office for verification of the age? I am aware that in some quarters doubts have been expressed as to the accuracy of the Census Returns for the years in question, but I see no sufficient reason for ceasing to use them as one of the means of checking the ages of pensioners in the cases referred to.