HC Deb 30 May 1913 vol 53 cc469-70W
Mr. WING

asked the Postmaster-General why Mr. W. Rigney, recently in charge of linesmen in the Letterkenny, Enniskillen, and Dundalk section (Ireland) telegraph service, is retired with a pension of £34 13s. 5d. per annum and a retiring gratuity of £101 14s. 1d., while en- titled to a pension of £50 per annum and a retiring gratuity of £140; and is he aware that the Secretary to the Postmaster-General wrote to Mr Rigney on the 10th June, 1892, to the effect that the date on which he joined the 2nd telegraph battalion Royal Engineers, namely, 3rd August, 1878, would count towards pension, which is not fulfilled by the above pension and retiring allowance?

Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL

The pension and additional allowance which have been awarded Mr. Rigney are the full amounts for which he is eligible under the Superannuation Acts in respect of his twenty-four years' Post Office service. It is unfortunately the case that owing to a misapprehension Mr. Rigney was informed that his ten years' military service preceding his Post Office service would be counted towards his superannuation award; but the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, to whom the facts were fully represented, state that they have no power to include that service.