§ Mr. COLEFAXasked the President of the Local Government Board whether satisfactory proof of the right of Miss Emma Hood, of 8, Gordon Street, Old Trafford, Manchester, to receive an old age pension has been submitted to the local pension officer and also to him; if not, in what particular is the proof unsatisfactory; if satisfactory proof has been submitted can he explain the delay; and will he take the necessary steps which will ensure Miss Hood receiving such pension?
§ Mr. BURNSThe claim in this case was disallowed by the pension committee on the ground that the claimant had not attained the age of seventy, and a birth certificate was produced in which the date of birth was given as 16th October, 1841. The claimant has, however, produced a baptismal certificate from which it would appear that she was baptised on 14th May, 1840, and, after communication with the Registrar-General, I am prepared to accept this certificate as evidence of age. The birth certificate produced seems to have had reference to another individual of the same name. The question of claimant's means is now being investigated.
§ Mr. HACKETTasked the Chief Secretary whether he can state the ground on which Mrs. Mary Joyce, Kylemakill, Moyne, county Tipperary, has been refused a pension by the pension committee?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLThe pension sub-committee awarded Mrs. Joyce a pension, but the pension officer appealed on the ground (hat she could furnish no evidence that she was of the statutory age, and the Local Government Board, after communicating with Mrs. Joyce, felt obliged to allow the appeal.
§ Mr. HACKETTasked the Chief Secretary (1) whether he can state the reason why Mrs. Mary Heffernan, Ballymore, Cashel, county Tipperary, was refused an old age pension; and (2) whether he can state the grounds on which Mary Fanning, Stradavohr Street, Thurles, was refused an old age pension by the pension officer; and whether he can state if she has been living apart from her husband for the last ten years?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am not in a position to state the grounds on which the pensions were refused in these two instances as the cases have not come before the Local Government Board on appeal. Pension officers are not under my control, and any questions with regard to their action should be addressed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury.
§ Mr. HACKETTasked the Chief Secretary whether John Fogarty, Ballinahaw, Thurles, was refused an old age pension, on appeal by the Local Government Board, on the grounds that he was not a British subject; whether he is aware that John Fogarty was born at sea on board a British vessel and has resided in Ireland for the past sixty-five years; and whether, under the circumstances, he will recommend the Local Government Board to reconsider his case with a view to granting him an old age pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAn appeal has been recently lodged with the Local Government Board by the pension officer at Thurles in the case of a man named John Fogarty. The necessary documents have not yet been received by the Board, and the appeal is therefore pending. This is presumably the case referred to in the question.