§ Mr. NEWMANasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of James West, until recently employed at the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield; whether, in view of the fact that while in the Government service the man received the following injuries: accident to arm, 1885; severe accident to leg (from which he still suffers), 1886; total loss of eye, 1887; rupture, 1895; and a subsequent accident to hand destroying the use of two fingers; and whether, in view of the fact that the only compensation he has received is £73, and £35 by way of repayment for wages deducted, and the fact that West is now in total want, he can see his way to give this man a pension or small gratuity?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEMy right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. This case is one which has been repeatedly considered by the Treasury, and formed the subject of numerous questions addressed to my predecessor and to myself in 1908. I can add nothing to the answers then given, with copies of which I am furnishing the hon. Member, except to say that the grant of £35 to which he refers, though calculated with reference to the loss of wages temporarily incurred by West, was not a repayment of wages deducted, but a purely compassionate grant in addition to the compensation to which he was entitled under the Acts applicable to his case.