Mr. W. GRAHAMasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether on the 1st of January, 1915, the Treasury stopped the practice of payment of sick pay to all employés under forty-five years of age in the Royal parks; whether these employés were to receive as compensation for this loss one week's pay a year; whether new entrants into the service were not to participate in this; whether the one week's pay per year was continued to men who went into the forces for the War, but this year it has not been paid; and, if so, will he state the reason for this action?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe answer to the first three parts of the question is in the affirmative. Last year it came to the knowledge of the Treasury that some Departments had continued the payment of this compensation to the dependants of men serving in the forces as part of the balance of civil pay, and instructions were given for stopping such payments. The404W reason for this action is that men serving in the forces are provided for during periods of illness, and their dependants receive the balance of their civil pay continuously throughout their period of service.