§ Mr. CURRIEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether a soldier in the British Army, after bringing his wife and two children from America at his own expense and after eight months' active service in France, was discharged as unfit for further service on account of his wounds; whether the authorities fixed this man's pension at 4s. 8d. a week; whether a letter from Sir Frederick Milner, Baronet, protesting against such a miscarriage of justice, was banned by the Censor; and, if so, will he say why this course was adopted; whether the man's pension was raised to 25s. a week; and whether effective steps have now been taken to guard against a recurrence of such an incident?
§ Mr. TENNANTIn the case referred to the pension was at first fixed at 4s. 8d. a week, the medical board being of opinion that the disability was not due to service or climate. On further inquiry, made at the instance of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Help Society, Edinburgh, it was found that the man's disability was largely due to concussion caused by a bursting shell, and on the 26th August an increased pension of 18s. 9d. a week was granted, with 2s. a week each for the man's three children, or a total of 24s. 9d. a week. Later the man was re-examined, and as a result of the re-examination, simultaneously with which an application from Sir Frederick Milner was received, it was decided that the man was totally incapacitated from the effects of active service and he was awarded 25s. a week for six months, with 2s. 6d. a week for each of his three children. The grant of the increased pension made in this case and in others similar had nothing to do with the letter which the hon. Gentleman speaks of having been banned by the Censor.