§ Mr. CHARLES CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Mr. Richard Boyle, National School teacher, at Colliery School, Castlecomer, county Kilkenny, has been retired by the Board of Education on a pension of £38 per annum, on account of failure of sight after forty years' service as principal teacher, but, because he has not served forty years after the age of twenty-one, he is debarred by the rules of the Board from receiving the full pension of £46; and whether, in view of Mr. Boyle's services, he will recommend the Commissioners of National Education to add the necessary one year and nine months to his service to qualify him for the full pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELL:I understand that the teacher in question has become blind and will be retired on the 31st instant, when he will be entitled, under the rules governing the Teachers' Pension Fund, to a pension of £38 a year. Had he been able to continue to serve until December, 1911, he would have been entitled to a pension of £46 a year, but the Commissioners of National Education have no power to add to his service as suggested in the last paragraph of the question.
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