§ Mr. R. McNEILLasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether an officer in the Royal Marines who, before the War, had retired after twenty-six years' service on a pension of £300 per annum, and on the outbreak of war was called up for service, and was invalided home from Gallipoli with a badly strained heart brought about, according to the medical board, by the incidents of active service, has been declared by the Admiralty to be ineligible for any other award than his retired pay; if he will say what Regulation forbids the granting of disablement pension to the officer referred to; and whether it is in accordance with the Regulations and general practice of the naval service that officers who have risked their lives and sacrificed their health in the present War are precluded, unless actually wounded, from receiving any pension or award in addition to what they were entitled to for service prior to the present War?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAMy hon. and learned Friend's question apparently refers to a gentleman who was retired on the 3rd February, 1912, on a pension of £300 per annum, called up for service in the Reserve of Officers, R.M., on the 1st August, 1914, and removed therefrom on the 31st January, 1916, for medical unfitness, certified to be constitutional but aggravated by the Service. Under the Regulations which have been drawn up in pursuance of the recommendations of the Select Committee on Naval and Military Services (Pensions and Grants), majors are entitled to the half-pay of their rank as a minimum if partially disabled, and to an addition of £50 per annum to their retired pay if totally disabled, after more than twenty-four years' service. In the present case it was not possible to certify the officer as totally disabled, and he is therefore not eligible to receive a higher rate of retired pay than £300 a year.