§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the Department of Agriculture, in calculating the wages of Irish agricultural labourers, has computed that the maintenance of labourers boarded by their employers is, on the average, worth 6s. per week, although pension officers under the Old Age Pensions Act have repeatedly calculated the maintenance of claimants, who have agreements with members of their family to maintain them, at 10s., 235W 11s., and even 12s. per week; whether these calculations have been upheld by the Local Government Board, and, if so, upon what grounds; and, seeing that numerous applicants for old age pensions have had their claims rejected because their means, consisting merely of an agreed maintenance, are alleged to exceed the statutory limit, will some definite standard of assessment of the value of such maintenance be set up to protect the interests of the deserving aged people?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe facts appear to be generally as stated in the first part of the question. The case of a labourer boarded and lodged by his employer is quite different from that of a member of the family, as the latter enjoys many privileges denied to the former, and particularly so where the claimant has been the occupier of the farm and has assigned it to some member of his family. No definite standard of assessment of the value of such maintenance can be set up, as each case must be dealt with on its merits, and the principle of the Local Government Board is that the maintenance ought to bear some relation or proportion to the value of the farm on which the claimant is supported and which he has transferred.