§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Postmaster-General whether Staff Quartermaster-Sergeant Stickney's history in the Army showed that he had a recurrence of various diseases; if he is aware that Mr. Stickney's medical history shows that from his enlistment in July, 1894, to September, 1899, he had no illness; that late in 1899 he contracted enteric fever at Pietermaritzburg, was sent to Netley as a convalescent, and in 1900 was sent back to Natal, where in 1901 he was debilitated by hard work and living on preserved Army rations; that from 1902 to January, 1912, a period of ten years, he had no illness or disease, except a touch of pleurisy caused by a chill at Aldershot in 1906; if he was committed to an asylum on 15th January, 1912, for having weird notions about vaccination, that is, because he claimed exemption 441W from vaccination for his child; if the officer who certified Stickney as unfit for Army service committed suicide a few days after; and will he have a personal examination of Stickney by the Post Office doctor?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELMr. Stickney's Army medical history up to January, 1912, was substantially as stated by the hon. Member. On the 16th of that month, however, he was admitted to hospital at Pretoria suffering from extensive varicose veins, and was subsequently invalided as permanently unfit. After arrival in this country he entered Netley Hospital and remained there until his discharge from the Army on the recommendation of a medical board. The thrombosis and varicose veins from which he suffers render him unsuitable for the position of postman. I have no knowledge of the vaccination question and the alleged suicide of an Army medical officer.